


Jingle Bell Rock (We Say E-X, You Say O)

by chennieforyourthoughts



Category: EXO (Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: Aka Jongdae finally gets the metal debut we've all been waiting for, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, M/M, Slow Burn, Taeyong should be paid for taking care of Dream, Too many MAMA jokes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-09 07:19:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 26,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12882891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chennieforyourthoughts/pseuds/chennieforyourthoughts
Summary: Jongdae is given his metal debut under one condition: his group must debut within twenty-five days.





	1. DECEMBER 1

**Author's Note:**

> What's this? Updates every day?  
> Well, I can't quite promise that, but I _can_ say there will be all chapters **[hopefully]** by Christmas.
> 
> [(Fanfic Disclaimer + More ♥)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chen_CHING/profile)

NOVEMBER 30, 2017— 23:47

As the clock edged ever closer to midnight, Byun Baekhyun’s studies were interrupted by loud screeching from one room over. The house he shared with his singular roommate wasn’t too large, but it was just big enough for most shouting to be left unheard. But not this time, the _one time_ Baekhyun was trying to finish an essay defending _Iago,_ of all of Shakespeare’s characters.

“TWENTY-FIVE DAYS?!!” Jongdae screamed, and it cut right though Baekhyun’s headphones. The Shakespeare major flinched and pressed _pause_ on Super Junior’s latest album.

(That was something Jongdae had always teased him about— listening to and loving a group Jongdae actually _knew.)_

Baekhyun picked himself up and leapt from his bed to the floor. He wasn’t sure if Jongdae had heard the noise, but sue him, Baekhyun was _curious._

He nudged Jongdae’s door open, and his roommate nodded for him to come in the rest of the way when he saw Baekhyun peeking in. “You’re telling me.” Jongdae took a deep breath, one deep enough Baekhyun could see his chest rise and fall. “That I have twenty-five days to put together a band, debut and promote it, perform at the university’s Christmas concert on the 19th, and then play a show on _Christmas Eve_ which goes over onto _Christmas_ at the _Gocheok Sky Dome?”_

Baekhyun’s mouth dropped open. He likely looked like a dying fish, but Jongdae was too preoccupied to tease him for it. “Oh my god,” he said, and Jongdae found himself internally mirroring the statement.

Jongdae removed the phone from his cheek so he could talk to Baekhyun. “They want to turn it into a show,” he said. “They’re calling it 25 DAYS WITH [INSERT BAND NAME HERE], apparently.”

Baekhyun took a short moment to mourn his GPA and then asked the first question that came to mind. “What genre?”

His roommate relayed the question to whoever was on the other end— Baekhyun assumed it must have been Jongdae’s new— old?— manager— and was silent while the voice responded. “Whatever I want,” Jongdae said with wonder and awe, and shared the happiest grin Baekhyun had ever seen with him. “AYE, I FINALLY GET MY METAL DEBUT!”

Baekhyun had to laugh at that. He knew Jongdae loved his old band, loved working with the men he’d been meant to debut with and fallen apart with, loved them enough to miss them dearly, but wasn’t missing the lack of more…. alternative pieces in the repertoire.

“Management wants nine total,” Jongdae informed him, and Baekhyun nodded. “So far, we have two.”

“Two? What make you think I’ll be joining you?”

“Because you wouldn’t want to miss a chance of being famous. Really famous.” Jongdae had removed the phone once more, and Baekhyun had a fleeting thought that it might be annoying to whoever he was talking to from SM. “Plus, I’ve heard you hit those high notes in the shower.”

“Oh god,” Baekhyun groaned once more, embarrassed but (not-so-) secretly excited beyond belief. “Alright, alright, I’ll do it.” Jongdae cheered and shouted into the phone’s microphone that his roommate would be joining. “But I have to finish my essay first! It’s over twenty-percent of my grade.”

 _“Fine,”_ Jongdae whined, but Baekhyun knew he barely meant it.

“But,” Baekhyun continued, and watched with amusement as Jongdae perked up from his “disappointed” state. “I think I may have someone for you.”

 

DECEMBER 1 — 9:40

 

“I heard you’re starting a band!” Was the very first thing the student said to him when he stopped Jongdae outside the university’s library of history on the first. His hair was vibrant, eye-burning, cotton candy _lilac_ and a large guitar case rested against his thigh. “I’m Chanyeol, Park Chanyeol!”

This Park Chanyeol was always shouting, it appeared.

Jongdae liked him already.

“Your roommate’s boyfriend!” Ah, no wonder the name sounded familiar; Jongdae probably should have guessed.

“You play the electric guitar?” Jongdae asked, although it was hardly necessary. Chanyeol nodded immediately, swinging the case. Jongdae felt a moment of sadness for the instrument inside.

“Electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums, and DJ.” Jongdae whistled at the list— it was certainly long.

But a long list meant nothing if Chanyeol couldn’t play any of them well. “Can you play something for me?” Chanyeol grinned and walked into the music building without another word. “Apparently so.”

They kicked a group from the best practice room— or, more accurately, the freshmen scattered as soon as they walked in. Jongdae pulled up a chair while Chanyeol got his instrument ready. Although Jongdae had never been a guitar player, he’d seen the love his bandmates had for their instruments and how it was quiet yet present as they tuned.

Jongdae saw the same in Chanyeol, and settled back into his chair when he began to play.

 

DECEMBER 1 — 12:10

 

“So you liked him?” Was the first thing Baekhyun shouted at him when he returned to their house.

“Of _course_ I liked him— I said he’s in, didn’t I?” Jongdae flung his bag down next to his desk and made a beeline for the refrigerator. “By the way, he’s arriving in fifteen with his bags.”

“HE’S LIVING WITH US?!”

“Why else would SM have given me a house?” Baekhyun huffed at Jongdae’s eyeroll, but went scurrying off towards the upstairs bedrooms rather than responding. Jongdae unearthed a smoothie from near the back of the fridge, checked its date (and decided it wasn’t _too_ bad….. right?), shook it, and uncapped it with a pop.

 

12:25

 

Chanyeol was perfectly on time. His fist barely had time to rap against the door before Baekhyun was wrenching it open, making Jongdae relived that the man hadn’t been putting any weight on it because he would have looked rather unfortunate (and ungainly) falling face-down on their entrance room floor.

By the time lunch came around, Jongdae had found out that the drummer/guitarist fit right in in their lives. Baekhyun, of course, had already known as much, but it took Thai takeout, a short TV show episode, and a popcorn fight for Jongdae to come up with what he believed an accurate verdict.

Afterwards, as the trio did _rock-paper-scissors-SPOCK!_ to decide who had to vacuum the popcorn from the entertainment room floor, who had to do the dishes, and who had to get their new roommate settled in, Chanyeol realized something.

“We need adult supervision,” he said, taking a glance at the mess they’d made, “If this thing is going to work.”

Baekhyun nodded; Jongdae had noticed that he did a lot of it when Chanyeol was around. “Maybe someone older than us,” he agreed. “A senior? Or a grad student? Or a TA?”

“We’re going to need a RA at this rate,” Jongdae sighed as he dragged himself into the kitchen.

When Chanyeol had finished wrestling with the vacuum cleaner, Baekhyun was able to shout to Jongdae: “Have you put up the fliers yet?”

“Yup! There are fliers at every entrance to every single building— I put them up this morning.”

“That must have taken _so long,”_ Chanyeol gasped, and Jongdae turned away from the soapy sink to give him an equally long look of misery.

“You have no idea,” he said. “Hopefully _someone_ shows up today— SM wants full members by the third.”

 

13:59

 

By the time Jongdae took his seat in Chemistry 101, Baekhyun and Chanyeol had been sent to the dance studio to watch a group of dance majors practice, but they hadn’t encountered any more singers or rappers.

“Well, Channie needs backup, doesn’t he?” Baekhyun had asked when Jongdae commented on not having a rap line yet.

“What?”

“Oh…. I may have forgotten to mention. I’m a rapper?”

“Is there anything you _don’t_ do?”

“I’m not a dancer.”

“Well, that’s going to have to change…. in the next twenty-three days.”

 

The chemistry professor was on sabbatical, so her class was being taught by her TA.

And _man,_ was Jongdae happy about that.

Were he being honest, he wasn’t a huge fan of chemistry when he first stepped foot into the class. But now, he found himself sitting towards the very front, filling notebook after notebook with detailed notes on properties and orbitals and gas laws and osmotic pressure and anything and everything in-between.

And it was all due to that graduate student.

Chemistry with Kim Minseok, Physical Chemistry PhD applicant, was the highlight of Jongdae’s days. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what made it so special, but he’d say it was a mix of Minseok’s:

  * Easy to understand explanations,  

  * Dad jokes (which were better than another one of Jongdae’s TA’s dad jokes, he thought),  

  * Detailed commentary,  

  * _Posting the lecture slides in advance and keeping them up, bless his heart for blessing Jongdae’s grades,_  

  * Voice Jongdae could listen to for hours on end (and he had, when he’d asked to record the lectures from a unit he was struggling on and Minseok, being Minseok, had given him the okay),  

  * And general adorableness.



 

Because Kim Minseok was _super_ _duper (junior),_ unbelievably, heartwarmingly adorable.

Baekhyun had laughed at him when Jongdae told him as much, but as he had as of yet to meet Minseok, Jongdae cut him a teeny bit of slack.

Plus, he wouldn’t have been able to understand coming up with problems and questions just to have an excuse to talk to Minseok during his office hours, either, until he met the TA.

And he wouldn’t have seen how when Minseok ran out of contacts one time he’d asked Jongdae to please help in in tracking down his extra pair of glasses. Which ended up being just as cute as he was, of course.

Intro to Statistics was another oddly enjoyable class thanks to its TA, and as it tended to fall directly after Chemistry 101 such days were decidedly Jongdae’s favorites. Although Kim Junmyeon wasn’t covering for the professor for an entire year, he had **The Best™ Office Hours** on campus and had become a resource for an enormous number of students.

It had gotten to the point where he had begun teaching “Intro to English” classes (and he was applying for a PhD in data science and had a major in computer programming) in the library at 15:30 every Thursday. Not that Jongdae had ever gone to one, no way! And not that Junmyeon had smiled at him and called him by name, _no way!_

Baekhyun had found out and begun to whip and nae nae. Jongdae had proceeded to turn it back around onto him because _hey, Baekhyun was Whipped for that cute boy in his creative writing class, too!_

So Jongdae was in good spirits when he reentered the double-story house his company (it still felt weird to call them that, he thought) was paying for him after his usual gym run— up until looked into the entertainment room and saw Baekhyun sitting with…..

No one other than Kim Minseok and Kim Junmyeon.

“Oh, Jongdae! Look who stopped by.”

Baekhyun _knew,_ the traitor, but he’d put on his sweetest smile and neither of the graduate students appeared to be any the wise.

Jongdae was going to murder him.

“Oh, Jongdae! I didn’t know you were going to be here.” Minseok looked so honestly surprised, eyes wide under those glasses— _that darn pair with the clear rims and wide lenses—_ that Jongdae honestly couldn’t find anything to say.

Baekhyun was having a field day. “Ah, but Jongdae-yah here is the SM artist!”

Junmyeon actually _gasped,_ and both he and Minseok stared at Jongdae like they’d never seen him before. “What do you do?”

“I’m a vocal,” Jongdae managed. “Mostly focused on metal, alternative, and rock, but I can do ballads too.”

“You should hear him sing,” Baekhyun told the pair. “He’s a true power vocal. And his voice is…..” He didn’t elaborate, and for once, Jongdae was thankful for his friendship. “You have to hear it to understand.”

“Will you sing for us?”

Jongdae smiled, his lips turning up at the corners. “I will, but only if you sing for us first.”

“Deal,” Minseok said, and then he stood, glanced down at his clasped hands once, and then looked right into Jongdae’s eyes and opened his mouth.

And _Holy Cow,_ Kim Jongdae was in love.

He’d never heard a voice like it— it was delicate yet strong in ways he couldn’t describe, but which made him know from the very beginning that _yes, yes, this was going to work._

This was going to work.

“Uh.” Minseok said once he’d finished. “I hope that was alright? If you want me to do something else, I can?”

“Dae, you weren’t freaking joking around!” The words left Baekhyun all at once, and once he’d said them he abruptly burst into laughter. “You were so right!”

“Marry me,” Jongdae exhaled, certain he hadn’t blinked for the entire time.

And then Minseok laughed, and Jongdae was certain he was dead.

“I mean, you’re pretty cute!”

“Who’s pretty cute?” Chanyeol had returned from watching the dance practices (Baekhyun had left as soon as he’d gotten the text from Junmyeon telling him he and Minseok wanted to audition) and came bearing several new faces. One was clearly a graduate student, while the other two appeared to be…. freshmen? “And who was singing? Was that you, Dae?”

“Jongdae-ssi is,” Junmyeon informed him, and Chanyeol blinked.

“That was Minseok-ssi,” Baekhyun added, and Jongdae slowly calmed himself down. “Who is _definitely_ in. Now it’s Junmyeon-ssi’s turn.”

“Oh, I can’t wait to hear it! Everyone, these are Yixing— TA— and Jongin and Sehun, freshmen.” Chanyeol and the dancers found spots on the couch. Jongdae was struck by the way they carried themselves— they were even graceful while _sitting._ Seriously, he was a little jealous.

Then Junmyeon began to sing and the jealousy was forgotten.

He had a very different voice from Minseok— he was most comfortable closer to the middle, and it was a rich, rich velvet.

Once again, Kim Jongdae was in love.

“Baek, can we keep him? Please?” Baekhyun snorted but nodded.

“Of course, silly. You sound great!” He told Junmyeon, who smiled softly and thanked him.

“Oooh, Jongdae owes us a song!” Minseok exclaimed, the excitement he usually reserved for discussing entropy appearing in a very different situation. Jongdae startled, having completely forgotten, but thought about what he could do on such a short notice before settling on a solo he had written for himself back in his C-Pop days.

He thought about what he heard in Minseok’s and Junmyeon’s voices. He thought of his old group members; of Yifan’s steadiness, of Luhan’s charm, of Zitao’s antics. He remembered the kick-kick of the drums, the wail of the guitar, of the harmonics of the piece mirroring the guitar part. He remembered the way it started _angry,_ fierce, champing to drive forward, until it was _controlled_ by its drive in the buildup to the high notes.

He remembered the thought pattern he hadn’t used for a year, down to the individual words: _He takes up space, he is huge, he is loud, can’t you hear him? Even the void can hear him now as he channels the energy within him; he is the lightning dancing across the sky, he is the thunder after, he is **power.**_

Jongdae hit the highest notes like he was born to, eyes closed and falling, falling into the routine that had been his second skin.

As he came back to himself, he could distantly hear the familiar, familiar sound of Baekhyun screaming.

And as for Minseok and Junmyeon, Jongdae would later joke that they looked rather…. thunderstruck.

 


	2. DECEMBER 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Ooh, drama llama!” Baekhyun shouted, racing down the stairs at full speed. “I hear drama!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 3 may come soon, assuming all goes well!
> 
> Quick explanation of rooms:  
> \- First room = Baekhyun and Chanyeol  
> \- Second room = Jongdae, Junmyeon, and Minseok  
> \- Third room = Jongin  
> \- Fourth room = Sehun and Yixing

DECEMBER 2 — 06:31

“Jongdae-ssi.” Jongdae was shaken awake, and in his sleep-induced slow thinking became convinced he had missed a class. He scrambled out of bed, forcing Minseok to jump out of the way to avoid being hit.

“AHH, what am I missing?!”

“……… There’s someone at the door? They have cameras.” Jongdae finally noticed Minseok, who readjusted his glasses and smoothed down his hair.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry Minseok-ssi. Did I hit you?”

Jongdae was going to suffer. Baekhyun was going to die laughing.

“No, you missed me. I wasn’t expecting to have to make such a hasty retreat, though!” Minseok chuckled, and Jongdae began breathing again. At least he hadn’t hurt his TA…. would that have dropped his grade?

(Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s shared opinion was that Minseok was too good of a person to do so, and that it was Jongdae, so his grade would not have been affected.)

“Okay, good. I’m still so sorry, though.”

“Really, don’t worry about it— sorry for having to wake you so early. But what do you want to do about the cameras? They were there when I left for the gym, followed me there, and then came back home with me, and I’m not exactly sure what to do.” Upon closer inspection, Minseok was indeed dressed for the gym, and _that was not something Jongdae needed to visualize or consider any further. Nope._

“They followed you?” Jongdae rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand, trying to wake himself fully. Minseok was struck with a sudden wave of _oh gosh, he looks like a sleepy kitten,_ and forced himself to turn away.

One of the dancers knocked on the doorframe. “Sorry to interrupt, but there are people from SM here?” It took Jongdae a moment to remember which one he was, but he was eventually able to identify him as Jongin.

“Thanks, Jongin, I’ll go take a look.”

 

07:30

“Do you think everything’s alright?” Junmyeon asked, having looked up from the tests he was grading to check the time. It’d been about an hour since Jongdae had left the house to talk to the company, and he was getting slightly worried.

“Probably,” Yixing replied.

“Dae-ssi’s yelling,” Jongin reported, entering the entertainment room and shoving Sehun over to get a spot on the couch. “Something about invasion of privacy?”

“Ooh, drama llama!” Baekhyun shouted, racing down the stairs at full speed. “I hear drama!”

Minseok padded in, stack of papers tucked under one arm and a mug of coffee balanced in the other hand. “Ah, Junmyeon-ah, how are the tests going?”

“Better than last time’s! I just finished Jongdae-yah’s.”

_“Jongdae-yah?”_

“JONGDAE-YAH?”

“Yah! Jongdae- _yah?”_

“…….. Oops?”

“What is going on here?” Jongdae himself had appeared, hand on his hip and pouting. “What did I do to you all?”

“.. Nothing,” Minseok said, and Junmyeon mirrored him.

“Nothing! Yes, nothing.”

“Hm.” Jongdae wasn’t impressed, but let it slide. Baekhyun was mildly stunned— if they weren’t his favorite TAs, Minseok and Junmyeon would be teased to death. “Anyways, SM’s camera crew is here. I just had a talk with them about following Minseok, and wanted to let you know that they cannot film you without your permission. That said, the company would like to give us a show to help promote their latest debuting group.”

“Which is?” Chanyeol asked, and several of the others had similar expressions of confusion. “How can we help them debut?”

Jongdae sighed. Baekhyun was practically bouncing in his seat. “It’s _us,_ Chanyeol.”

 

07:33

“I think you broke him, Jongdae.”

 

07:40

“The cameras are kind of weird. Disconcerting?”

“Nah, we’re going to be _famous!”_

Of course, the company officials _loved_ Baekhyun’s wink almost as much as Chanyeol did.

 

14:54

“Jongdae, there’s someone at the door again!”

He’d just been about to settle in and begin working on a problem set for Junmyeon, actually, when he heard Chanyeol shout to him. “Are they from SM?” He shouted back, not really feeling like leaving his seat open for the taking (because Baekhyun would definitely take it as soon as he emerged from his room), but got up to deal with it. The others were guests for the moment, anyways, so it fell to him to answer his own door.

“I don’t think so!”

Sure enough, the man on the other side was a student, not a professional. He was smaller than Jongdae, almost as small as Minseok, but he had a _look_ about him which told Jongdae not to mess with him. “May I help you, sir?” Jongdae asked, trying his hardest not to get on the stranger’s bad side.

“Thank you, I think so. I’m here about the auditions?”

“Then you’re in the right place!” Jongdae stepped to the side, and the man took his place just inside. He glanced around, saw the shoes lined neatly by the door (courtesy of Minseok, who had been frankly appalled when he saw the state of the house), and toed his sneakers off. “I’m Jongdae, Kim Jongdae.”

The man nodded, and Jongdae wondered if he recognized him from his earlier music days. “Do Kyungsoo,” he said, and Jongdae didn’t know why but he found the name oddly fitting.

“BAEKHYUN!!” Jongdae screamed at the top of his lungs, knowing his roommate would have headphones on. Kyungsoo flinched slightly next to him, and Jongdae felt a little sorry. Perhaps he and Jongin would get along— they both seemed rather quiet and introverted from what he’d seen?

That was a question for another time, as Baekhyun came bounding down the stairs once again. “WHAT, JONGDAE?” He screamed back, even though Jongdae and Kyungsoo were _decidedly_ within hearing distance. Jongdae assumed it was his revenge for being pulled away from his delightful readings.

“We have someone here to audition!” Jongdae spoke normally this time, and Kyungsoo mentally thanked him. His left ear was still ringing.

“Oh, do we now! I’m Baekhyun. Do you mind being filmed terribly much?”

Kyungsoo wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, so he nodded. It was then that he noticed the camera crew which had claimed one of the doorways and was filming them. “I don’t,” he confirmed, and the one who appeared to be in the lead of the project gave him a thumbs up. “Do Kyungsoo.”

“Great to meet you! I’ll go get the others now— Jongdae, want to take him to the entertainment room? I think your boys are there already, grading papers or something.”

“You don’t write papers for their classes, you write lab reports,” Jongdae muttered, but he knew Baekhyun would pay him no mind. “So, Kyungsoo-ssi, please come right this way.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Kyungsoo could see the camera spin to follow him in a tracking shot.

He tried to convince himself that it wasn’t important, that it wouldn’t affect him.

He failed, and nerves crept in.

And that was bad, _bad,_ because then he’d hit the high notes sharp because he’d push himself too hard, and—

He was there in front of a group of people. There were eight, including Baekhyun and Jongdae, and they had all found spots on the furniture which faced inwards, towards where Kyungsoo had been herded.

Kyungsoo swallowed hard. He hadn’t known it would be an SM audition, hadn’t known that he’d be watched by Jongdae, hadn’t known enough.

If he had known, he wouldn’t be about to attempt to sing Jongdae’s old part.

“You’re a singer, correct?” Jongdae asked, and Kyungsoo nodded, unable to find his voice. “Alright then, you can begin whenever you’re ready. Good luck, Kyungsoo-ssi!”

“Fighting!!” Baekhyun yelled, and Kyungsoo had a moment of brief insanity in which he wondered if that was _all_ Baekhyun did, 24/7.

Kyungsoo took another look at the group as he inhaled, going over the beat in his head and reminding himself to not go sharp, whatever he did _don’t go sharp._

One of those seated caught his eye, not because he was watching Kyungsoo (they all were), but because his gaze was both steady and steadying, like a sky without clouds— Kyungsoo’s favorite kind of weather.

And with those eyes in mind, Kyungsoo began to sing.

 

Even the camera crew was silent when he finished. The expressions of the eight in front of him were unreadable, and Kyungsoo resisted the urge to fidget.

And then the one with the sky gaze smiled, and he already knew the outcome.

“Oh my lord,” Jongdae breathed, so softly that Kyungsoo was just barely able to hear it. “That was better than the original. And you translated it into Korean! He’s in, right?”

“AYYYEE, YEAH!!” To Kyungsoo's surprise, it was Chanyeol (although he thought of him at the time as _That Tall One)_ rather than Baekhyun who was yelling.

He’d learn shortly thereafter that Kyungsoo did not appreciate being tackled.

 

15:11

“You’ll be rooming with Jongin, if that’s alright?”

“That’s alright,” Kyungsoo replied, and Yixing smiled at him. He couldn’t remember meeting a Jongin, but that was probably because he couldn’t remember most of their names because they’d been screamed at him right after his audition before he could put a name to the face.

“He’s a great kid, I’m sure you two will get along! He’s a good roommate too, nice and neat and very polite.” It sounded like Yixing (one of the few Kyungsoo could remember because the dancer had introduced himself again before taking Kyungsoo on a short tour. Baekhyun and Chanyeol had disappeared somewhere together, and Jongdae had office hours to attend, so Yixing had offered to do it. Kyungsoo was rather pleased with his guide.) both liked and knew Jongin— perhaps his new roommate was one of the dancers?

Yixing came to a stop in front of the third door in the hallway, took a second as if in thought, and knocked. “Come in!”

It was a voice Kyungsoo didn’t recognize, so when Yixing held the door open for him and he stepped inside he was flooded with the same free-fall from earlier.

“Hello, you’re Kyungsoo, right?” Jongin had stood to greet him, and Kyungsoo swallowed. He looked a little less composed than earlier, more relaxed, but that was possibly from the pencil he’d stuck behind his ear and the textbooks he’d hastily shoved together to make them more presentable.

 _Neat?_ A portion of Kyungsoo’s head laughed, but the other part couldn’t possibly care less. “I am,” he said, and Jongin gave him one of the small smiles he’d seen earlier and Kyungsoo didn’t know it yet but that was _exactly_ how Jongdae felt most of the time. “You must be Jongin.”

Yixing smiled as he backed out of the room, the pair too distracted to notice his exit.

_Looks like he’ll have something to report to the others, after all._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, you probably know what Soo's audition piece is.
> 
> Thank you all for reading! ♥


	3. DECEMBER 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That’s insane,” Chanyeol gasped. He wasn’t afraid of working hard, but this was something else entirely.

DECEMBER 3 — 04:45

Jongdae’s phone vibrated, shocking him awake and making him groan softly. Across the room, he could hear Minseok’s alarm go off as well, and he pulled himself from bed and over towards his drawers as the graduate student woke himself.

One of the members of the camera crew knocked softly on their door before pushing it ajar. Jongdae shooed them away for the time being as he pulled on clothes, reminding himself to _not_ look over to his right where Minseok was, to _not_ see anything as he got dressed in record time.

“I’m decent, Jongdae-ssi,” Minseok told him, and Jongdae allowed him to turn and smile at him and let the cameraperson back in. The young lady was courteous enough to avoid waking Junmyeon when she entered, although she gave a small smile to the lump of tangled brown hair and blankets. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah!”

“I usually jog to the place, is that alright?”

“Of course,” Jongdae said as Minseok picked up the pace and led him across campus.

The lady behind the camera took a golf cart, and Jongdae and Minseok both tried not to laugh at it.

“Nice shirt, by the way,” Minseok told him during a particularly hard set of reps with the weights. Jongdae honestly had no idea how the guy was still breathing.

“Thanks!” Jongdae exclaimed, although he couldn’t remember exactly which one of his tank tops he’d picked for the occasion.

During their next break, he took a quick look down and saw it was his favorite one, a Rolling Stones top he’d had no idea Minseok would appreciate. “Do you listen to them?”

“Only a little,” Minseok admitted, “but it looks good on you.”

The camera crew had a great time with Jongdae almost dropping the bar he was using for chest presses onto himself.

He knew they’d have to cut the audio from the background, as well as much of their discussion, because Jongdae’s manager had suggested that the group get into already debuted groups to help determine what they wanted their sound to be like.

Also, it was possibly because a few of them knew basically _nothing_ and hadn’t been interested in such groups before, and therefore would be completely lost without the more experienced members (read: bigger fanboys) of the group.

“I like this one,” Minseok commented as he lifted himself off the bench and headed back to the treadmills. Jongdae followed him, wondering how he could possibly have underestimated his TA so much. _Minseok was probably ripped at this rate,_ his brain supplied, despite Jongdae’s best efforts to shut it up.

“Good!” He said instead. “Do you follow much K or C-pop?”

“Not very much, it’s always been more of Junmyeon’s thing,” Minseok told Jongdae, who nodded. “I kinda stopped listening to it after EX-M disbanded, actually?”

Jongdae took a sip from his water bottle to keep his cool. “EX-M, huh?”

“Yeah, you were always my bias.”

Minseok was definitely laughing at Jongdae as he stumbled, pulling the cord loose. The treadmill ground to a stop as he fell, and the transition between two songs overhead was filled with the most delightful laughter Jongdae had ever heard.

He’d definitely be willing to fall more if it meant that he’d hear Minseok laugh again.

Once they had finished at the gym, Jongdae dug a pair of earbuds from the bottom of his bag and plugged them into his phone. “Hey, want to hear something neat I found?”

Minseok turned to him, brushing his hair back from his forehead, and nodded vigorously. It was his Thermodynamics Expression™ as Jongdae called it, and it meant that Minseok _really_ wanted to. “Yes, please!” Minseok reached out for the earbud Jongdae swung to him and was quick to put it into place.

“Alright, but I need you to promise you to do something for me,” Jongdae said, finger hovering over the _play_ button on the video.

“What is it, Dae?”

(Jongdae would be lying if he said the nickname didn’t make all sorts of butterflies do tricks in his stomach.)

“You can’t tell anyone about what you hear next, ok? I’m serious— it’d put us all in deep trouble.”

Minseok swallowed and thought it over, before deciding that it was something he could do. “Okay, I’ll keep it quiet,” he said, and Jongdae gave him a blinding grin.

“Great! Here goes. I haven’t heard it yet, either, but I’ve heard a few earlier things.” Minseok didn’t ask what was so secret about the song that Jongdae begun to play— he had his suspicions as to why Jongdae was treating it as such. “Do you know who it is?”

The singer who began it sounded familiar, and Minseok was thankful that Jongdae gave him enough silence for him to figure it out. “That sounds like BTS,” he decided. “Junmyeon really likes them.”

It was just above freezing, but the sky was clear. Jongdae found himself regretting his lack of a jacket, but Minseok seemed unaffected. “You’re right,” Jongdae told him, and Minseok pumped his fist in the air. Their breath puffed white in the air, and Jongdae was struck with how fitting the moment was to the song. The only thing missing was snow, the sun’s glare reflecting off it in a spray of blinding light.

“It’s in Japanese, isn’t it?” Minseok asked, and Jongdae hummed in the affirmative. “It’s beautiful,” Minseok said, and Jongdae smiled. “Thank you for sharing it with me, Jongdae.”

It was the kind of song which is best listened to in silence next to another, and after it ended Minseok and Jongdae stayed silent. Minseok was the one to speak up next, although it took a little longer than expected to happen. “Do you think that you could do Jimin’s high notes?” He asked, and Jongdae’s smile sharpened into something more feline, something Minseok hadn’t seen before from him.

He couldn’t say he didn’t like how it looked.

“I can,” Jongdae said, keeping it simple. “We did a high note battle one time.” Then Jongdae turned to look at Minseok, who burrowed his hands into the first set of pockets he could find. “But you could beat either of us, I’m sure of it.”

“Ah, let’s see about that…. We have to do the winter showcase here, don’t we?”

“We do,” Jongdae remembered. He was looking forward to it, but didn’t think it’d be practice enough for what they’d have to do a few days later.

“How about we try doing that one for it? Will it have been released by then?”

It wasn’t a bad idea at all, the more Jongdae thought about it. “Let’s try it!” He decided, and Minseok cheered.

 

07:17

Do Kyungsoo was a blessing.

Not only could he cook, he did it for _everyone._ Jongdae and Minseok were about to propose when they got home. It was enough to rouse Baekhyun and Chanyeol from their room, and the group spent their first breakfast together.

“So,” Junmyeon said following a bite of the egg something or another Kyungsoo had made (he’d been almost as appalled at the state of the Chenbaek fridge as Minseok had been at the general cleanliness of the place), “We should decide on rolls before we get too far along.”

“Who should be leader?”

“I don’t want to lead,” Jongdae said almost immediately, much to the shock of the others. “I nominate Junmyeon to be the face of the group— he’d be good at taking care of both us _and_ the fans.”

Junmyeon sat in stunned silence as the others agreed loudly.

“Looks like you’re our leader, then!”

After a moment, Junmyeon nodded slowly. “Thank you all, I’ll do my best to not let you down. Before we started talking about that, I came up with something else because I was _certain_ Jongdae would be picked, but…. Maybe we could turn the dance line into a dance _and_ rap line? If you feel like you could do it and want to give it a try?”

“That could work!” Jongdae exclaimed. “The only thing about the dance line is for the Sky Dome, SM wants a full set of backup dancers as well. But they suggested something slightly…. odd? But it fits with the debut image they want for us.”

“What’s that?” Sehun asked, curious now.

“They think we should recruit a…. rave family.”

“A _what?_ They’re joking, right?”

“Apparently not— they think we should do a— and I quote— ‘post-apocalyptic electric song.’ In Japanese.”

Everyone started shouting at once, but once it settled down Minseok tapped Jongdae on the shoulder. “I think this could work,” he said, and as Baekhyun opened his mouth to start arguing the elder was there with a finger extended to keep him quiet. “Listen to me, all of you. If we can find a rave family, they can help us with the song, because they’ve listened to a _lot_ of EDM and can tell us what makes a great track, _and_ they can help us with choreo for it. And I think I have the one for you.” Minseok lifted his phone from the table when it buzzed, checked it, and grinned. “Guess we’re meeting them at nine!”

 

09:00

“Oh, Minseok hyung! It’s great to see you.”

Of all the kinds of people the group had been expecting to see, it was _not_ a cute teenage British literature major.

“And you, Mark-ssi!” And Jongdae’s teeth were going to rot out with the adorable fluffiness of the two’s reunion, and he would happily let them. “Sorry about the such short notice. I hope Tae wasn’t too busy?”

“Nah, he was just busy holding Jaehyun hyung captive on the couch. I think Yuta hyung’s a little suspicious, but I didn’t tell the others why you asked to meet with us.”

The meeting itself went smoothly. The group was larger than Jongdae had expected— there were eleven present, but apparently two members were elsewhere. “Sicheng’s in China visiting family, but he says he’s willing to fly back for this,” Taeyong (who was apparently the group’s leader, and he certainly looked the part) told them, “but Renjun can’t join because of health issues. I hope that’s alright?”

“No, no, he should put his health first!” Minseok was quick to reassure the others, who gave him thankful looks.

“I’ll tell him gramps is looking out for him,” the one with bleached hair— Jeno, if Chanyeol remembered correctly— snorted, and Minseok hit him over the head with a magazine from the coffee table.

“Well, this old man is going to get you onto the biggest stage in Seoul, so you can do him the basic respect of calling him hyung,” the graduate student glared, but Jongdae’s heart warmed to see it was a fond gesture.

“I can help you with Japanese,” Yuta piped up, and Jongdae was quick to thank him.

“We aren’t very good in it at all,” the singer said, and Baekhyun laughed. “Baek, at least I’m better than you are!”

A representative from SM joined the discussion then, leaning in to speak quickly to the rave family. “We can get you all set with gear, whatever you think will work.”

“Gear? What kind of gear?” Johnny asked, looking instantly more interested in the conversation.

“LED things,” the man told him, and the room dissolved into chaos as people began screaming about hitting the lotto and finally being able to get those light up shoes, _yes, Donghyuk, those ones which change color and everything and will be sooo cool on stage in front of thousands of people!_

 

20:39

Jongdae and Junmyeon rounded up the others from their various spots in the house and herded them into the entertainment room to have a group meeting in front of the cameras. “We got a call,” Junmyeon informed them as soon as everyone was settled. “We’re writing a song tonight. And then we’re filming tomorrow night, they’re editing overnight and it’s going out on the fifth.”

“That’s _insane,”_ Chanyeol gasped. He wasn’t afraid of working hard, but this was something else entirely.

“Yeah!” Sehun agreed, dragging his fingers through his hair.

“So. We’re having a group study session where we finish all our projects and papers and study for finals _tonight,_ and then once we’re finished with those we write the song.” Jongdae laughed when Baekhyun began to sputter, already knowing what it was about. “Yes, Baekhyun, that means finishing the paper you’ve been procrastinating on. Good luck, get that baby submitted asap!”

Kyungsoo sighed and rubbed at his eyes. He was already exhausted, and now he had to stay up later?

What fun.

“Soo? Are you in?” Jongin was peering at him along with the rest, and there was no way he could resist that.

“I guess so,” he conceded, and braced himself for hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're happy for rave family!NCT and you know it clap your hands yo


	4. DECEMBER 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It has its words mixed up.” Jongin whispered, but it carried much of the same weight. “It shouldn’t say ‘CUT HERE,’ it should say—“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From now on, all the members except for Kyungsoo have their Japanese debut looks. Kyungsoo's hair is from the Overdose Era because I couldn't deal.

DECEMBER 4 — 00:00:01

“Kyungsoo!” Someone shook Kyungsoo back to consciousness. Jongin was still asleep next to him, far enough away that they weren’t touching but close enough that Kyungsoo could feel the natural warmth of him buried under their shared blanket. “It’s midnight, what do you think of this?”

Chanyeol handed Kyungsoo his laptop, and the singer blinked a few times in an effort to make his eyes work ( _were they usually this blurry right after he woke up?_ ) so he could hit the track pad and make sound come from Chanyeol’s laptop.

It was _decidedly_ either too late or too early for the pulsing, driving beat that came from the speaker, waking Jongin and disorienting him enough his head fell onto Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

_Hm, what he wouldn’t do for forty more seconds of that._

Wait. Kyungsoo rewound what Chanyeol had put together, listened to the part he was interested in, paused it, and rewound it again. “Forty seconds,” Kyungsoo hummed in English, and Jongin perked up.

“Between forty seconds, I will not know you!”

Now Kyungsoo had no idea where that came from, but he wasn’t complaining. He was thankful the cameras had stopped recording for the moment, and although— once again— he wasn’t sure why, he was thankful they hadn’t caught Jongin’s comment.

It was soft, a little round sounding, and absolutely perfect.

“Come on tell me where you at,” Junmyeon continued, thinking of the way the words Jongin had said sounded and what could go with them.

“Tell me, tell me where you at,” Minseok said, and by now even Sehun had woken and was paying attention.

“Why don’t you tell me where you at?” Junmyeon replied, and it was pitched just right.

“I think we may have a song,” Chanyeol said, staring at Jongin with pride.

 

04:45

Kyungsoo was having a perfectly pleasant dream at the moment he was elbowed in the face. Hard.

“What the hell?!” He was awake in record time, flailing out towards where the elbow had come for and impacting with a body next to him. _Oh god, what did he do?_

“Ow, man,” the body groaned, rolling over and Kyungsoo saw that it was _Yixing,_ and he was _not down_ for that.

Kyungsoo threw himself out of the bed— which was likely Yixing’s, because he didn’t exactly recognize much of the room— and crept out of the room before he could accidentally wake Sehun, who was as of then still asleep.

He had no idea what was going on, but he did know that he wanted his own bed, and he wanted it _now._

Kyungsoo was asleep even before he hit the bed’s surface.

 

09:13

“Kyungsoo-ssi?”

This time, Kyungsoo woke up next to none other than Jongin.

Woke up, began processing, and panicked.

 

09:20

“We need a group name!” Baekhyun shouted, much too loudly for the hour it was. “Who has ideas?!”

“We’re kinda…. EX-M 2.0? EX-O?”

“You know, that works! Because like, exoplanets and cool science stuff?”

“EXOTHERMIC REACTIONS!” The side conversations ground to a halt as their participants turned to stare at Minseok in shock. “I mean…. we’ll send our energy— our love— to our fans, and, well, exothermic reactions are the ones which form bonds.”

Junmyeon reached out to pat him on the head. “Minnie, that’s the most adorable and most nerdy thing I’ve heard in my entire life. And I’ve heard a lot.”

Minseok pouted, and Jongdae elbowed him in the side. He couldn’t take that look.

“Wait, where’s Yixing?” Jongin asked, and Kyungsoo was suddenly reminded of that awkward wake-up. At least nothing had happened? But that still didn’t explain it.

“Don’t know. Maybe still sleeping? Kyungsoo probably interrupted his night when we dumped him on Yixing.”

“You WHAT?”

Chanyeol’s eyes widened. Jongin began cackling. Kyungsoo turned into something they’d never seen.

 

14:20

Jongin raced from the dance studio towards the edge of campus, headed to where he knew he’d be able to catch a cab. He opened his latest message and read the address to the driver, and fidgeted with the phone case for the rest of the ride there.

Kyungsoo was waiting just inside when they arrived, phone clutched in hand and glaring at something on the screen. “Hello, Kyungsoo-ssi!” Jongin greeted, and Kyungsoo’s head snapped up.

“Hello Jongin-ah!” The glare had disappeared, and Jongin couldn’t help but feel slightly victorious. “Are you ready?”

Jongin shook his head. To put it simply, he was beyond nervous, but couldn’t do anything at all about it. “I don’t know what they want for me,” he said, and Kyungsoo hummed.

“I haven’t asked, either, but you’ll look great no matter what, I’m sure.”

Jongin had to keep looking away just as much as Kyungsoo did.

“You’re getting yours done at the same time, right?” Jongin asked, hoping for an affirmative. He wasn’t sure exactly why, but knowing Kyungsoo was there doing the same thing would calm him.

Kyungsoo was called away first, and he gave Jongin a reassuring smile before he was led away by the stylist. The younger wasn’t certain whether he was going to witness heaven or hell when Kyungsoo came back, and was unsure which one he wanted more.

“Kim Jongin?” Someone called from over Jongin’s shoulder, and he took a deep breath before preparing himself for what his new look would be.

The lady who took care of him was very sociable and kind, and Jongin found himself warming to her despite his nerves. They had a discussion on which breed of dog is best and why while she washed and dried his hair, trimming the ends and running it through with conditioner and preparing it for the next stage.

“Don’t watch— I want it to be a surprise!” Jongin couldn’t have watched anyways as his long hair was cut; the feeling of falling strands sliding across his smocked shoulders was almost too much as it was.

Before he knew it, the stylist was finished. “You can look now!” She told him, and when Jongin blinked his eyes open he barely recognized himself.

She’d slicked his hair back as an example for the music video stylists, and it was _sharp—_ it made him look sharp and sleek, and somehow…. ancient looking, but in a good way. Like a not-yet-translated artifact, or a proudly crouching sphinx.

Behind him, someone gasped, and Jongin looked up in the mirror to find Kyungsoo staring at his reaction. _“Oh,”_ Kyungsoo said, mouth unconsciously frozen, and Jongin felt like mirroring it. Kyungsoo’s hair had been more shaped than cut, so now it fluffed up and out in a wave.

Jongin wanted nothing more than to bury his fingers in it. He told himself it was just because of how fluffy it was.

That was all.

Right?

Minseok and Jongdae emerged from somewhere deeper in the shop, both newly styled as well. The elder’s hair now curled into rows upon rows of perfect ringlets (just perfect for messing with, Jongdae thought), while the younger’s had been bleached and trimmed to a much shorter length than before. They both looked good, Kyungsoo thought.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol came in shortly thereafter when Jongin was preparing to head back to Jongdae’s— well, actually his house as well, now— to get started on finals studying and Kyungsoo caught up with him. “We’re headed to the same place, right?”

“I’m headed home— you are too?”

“Yup.”

They were not even able to _pretend_ they weren’t staring at each other’s changed hair for the entire cab ride back.

 

17:02

Jongin sighed, cracking his knuckles and leaning back so his spine could readjust and hopefully crack as well. The characters before him had begun to blur, and he wasn’t sure whether it was due to exhaustion of his eyes or exhaustion of his brain.

 _You still have work to do,_ it reminded him, and Jongin groaned softly.

“Are you alright?”

 _Oh, right_. Kyungsoo was still here.

The sophomore had been working as well when he was distracted by Jongin’s stretch. He peered at the freshman, worry making his eyes appear even larger under Kyungsoo’s glasses.

“Yes, sorry.” Jongin was quick to try to dissuade that worry, hating how he was the cause of it. “How’s your work going?”

“Slow,” Kyungsoo sighed as he shook his head. “My shoulders and hands are aching already, and we haven’t even filmed our main parts yet.”

“I can help you with that?” Jongin offered, and Kyungsoo blinked at him. “You know, I’m a dancer, so I’ve had to learn how to give wicked massages?”

This. _This was not good,_ Jongin’s brain screamed, and its screaming only intensified when Kyungsoo took his glasses off and nodded.

Jongin settled next to him on the bed, and Kyungsoo dropped down onto his stomach without having to be asked. _Just think of it like everyone else you’d helped,_ Jongin reminded himself, and much to his relief it worked. After some time, Jongin felt Kyungsoo’s shoulders give as his muscles stopped resisting. Jongin dug in then, working to get the worst of the knots out before they could tighten up again but with enough gentleness that his touch didn’t cause them to seize.

Kyungsoo had fallen silent, eerily so. Jongin’s massages weren’t relaxing; they were very effective, but also very painful. The dancer commended his pain management.

Once Kyungsoo’s shoulders were finished, Jongin took one of his arms and worked down towards his hand. He could feel the tension in it, and wondered what major made Kyungsoo have to write so much by hand.

“Does that feel any better?” Jongin asked once he’d done both sides, but got no response. “Kyungsoo?”

Jongin didn’t want to lift his head in case it hurt his neck, so he climbed off the bed and crouched down to look at Kyungsoo from the side.

And he was…. asleep?

 _Definitely asleep,_ Jongin realized, and laughter bubbled from him before he could stop it. _Of course Kyungsoo would be the only one to fall asleep due to the pain._

Kyungsoo lifted his head, felt the new state of his shoulders, and dropped it back down with a groan. “Thank you, Jongin,” he said, and since he hadn’t spoken for a while his voice was lower and rougher than Jongin remembered _and Jongin seriously had to stop thinking._

“You’re very welcome,” Jongin replied, and Kyungsoo gave him a blissful smile and _okay,_ Jongin was not prepared.

Sudden banging on their door made both jump. “Hey, Chanyeol wants to share the recorded song with you two!” Yixing shouted through the wood.

“Okay, we’ll head out!” Kyungsoo shouted back, but Jongin noticed that he didn’t look like he would be moving for a while.

 

21:50

Kyungsoo was sad to say that the pile of ancient computers and other outdated tech was undoing all the good Jongin had done.

 _Oh well,_ he thought, _guess I can ask for another at some point?_

He, Chanyeol, and Jongin were three of the lucky ones— they could get the majority of their filming done at night, while some of the others had already had to film and then come back that night to do the nighttime shots. They’d only had to show up for the choreo pieces that afternoon. (Kyungsoo couldn’t help but be amazed at how quickly SM was able to put something together for them— something that looked great, even though a few of them weren’t the best dancers yet.)

Once again, Kyungsoo found himself wondering why on _earth_ he had agreed to such a crazy schedule.

And signed himself up for it!

“Cut! That was good, would you like to take a look?”

Kyungsoo was quick to head over to behind the camera to see what the crew had captured. In his opinion, it looked pretty good.

More than pretty good, actually, but he’d wait for their executive opinions.

He fingered the collar of his shirt, tracing over the white lettering in it.

“Looks good!” The director announced, and Kyungsoo sighed in relief. “I think Jongin’s filming some of his dance solo now, if you’re interested?”

Kyungsoo was very interested indeed, so he wandered off across the studio to find the stage Jongin was in.

He knew it was the one as soon as he stepped inside. The track blasted over the speakers overhead, and the crew had built some sort of contraption with neon lights and mirrors that went way over Kyungsoo’s head but looked amazing.

Jongin himself was kneeling, leaning to the side and hunching his shoulders to make himself look smaller; Kyungsoo couldn’t exactly describe _what_ he was doing, but he couldn’t look away.

“We put Chanyeol in something similar,” one of the stagehands whispered to Kyungsoo after the take was finished. “But it was more of a box instead of a pyramid?” Kyungsoo nodded as if he understood, and the stagehand seemed pleased.

The so-called pyramid was the perfect backdrop for Jongin, Kyungsoo thought. There was something in how it framed him, bright and neon and reflective in contrast to the simple black sweater and light pants they’d put in him and his slicked-back hair, that made him seem dwarfed by it, small and innocent and yet somehow in complete control.

Kyungsoo didn’t notice shooting had finished until Jongin was rising, stretching out his knees and back. “Oh, Kyungsoo!” He exclaimed, trying his hardest not to limp as he made his way over to him. He failed, and Kyungsoo’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Your shots look good, Jongin,” he said, and watched as Jongin gave him an exhausted smile. “Are you done for the day?”

“Thankfully, yes,” Jongin said, and Kyungsoo was relieved— he wasn’t sure how long Jongin had had to film for, but it didn’t look like it’d done anything good to his knees. “Hey…. your shirt?”

Kyungsoo blinked, unsure of what Jongin was getting at. “What about it?”

Jongin frowned and stepped closer. “I don’t like it.” And Kyungsoo had never heard that tone before, serious and disappointed and a little commanding.

Just when Kyungsoo thought he couldn’t get any thrown for any more loops, Jongin reached out and grabbed onto the turtleneck’s collar. “It has its words mixed up.” Jongin whispered, but it carried much of the same weight. “It shouldn’t say ‘CUT HERE,’ it should say—“

And then Jongin was pulling the collar down and pressing a kiss to where the words had been, quick and soft.

Kyungsoo stood in stunned silence even as Jongin leaned back, put his collar back into place, and walked away.


	5. DECEMBER 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Said dancers were also standing, staring down at the crowd on the floor. Yixing appeared amused, Sehun confused, and Jongin mildly judging.
> 
> Kyungsoo did not want to be judged.

DECEMBER 5 — 08:20

Jongdae fell backwards onto the floor with a grunt, landing on his elbows to keep his head from smacking into the wood. “Ohhh, I forgot how hard practices were,” he groaned, and Baekhyun groaned back from his position halfway on top of Chanyeol. They’d collapsed together after the cameras and instructor had left, much to the amusement of the others.

Kyungsoo remained standing. It was because he didn’t want his muscles to cramp, of course, not because it had anything to do with him wanting to look serious in front of the dance line.

Said dancers were also standing, staring down at the crowd on the floor. Yixing appeared amused, Sehun confused, and Jongin mildly judging.

Kyungsoo did not want to be judged.

“We have to start on solos today,” Junmyeon reminded everyone, and to his surprise no one complained at the thought of more work. It made sense to him afterwards— they were slowly getting used to the amount of work needed for the job.

Jongin swept his hair away from his forehead. “And we all have vocal practice at noon, right? And then those who’ll be rapping have practice at three. So solos during free hours?”

“Solos, and recording,” Chanyeol reminded, waving his hand in the air in some sort of motion Jongin believed was supposed to be the equivalent of “producing something.”

Junmyeon, him and Minseok being the final two still standing, clapped his hands. “Sounds good. Alright, get up! Some of you— _Baekhyun_ — have classes to get to.”

Baekhyun complained but did as Junmyeon instructed. Chanyeol was relieved as he could once again breathe.

 

12:17

The trainers were brutal, but the group expected nothing less. Jongdae was released first, having prior knowledge of what would be expected of him. The others weren’t too far behind, and Junmyeon breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that they’d already memorized their parts and the others’s.

 _One less thing to worry about,_ Junmyeon thought.

“Hey, Junmyeon-ah!” It was Minseok, who had picked up both their bags at some point and handed Junmyeon’s to him. “Have you finished those tests yet?”

Junmyeon grinned, shouldering his bag and walking out of the building with Minseok by his side. “Of course I have.”

“So then we can go do something?”

“Do what?”

“Nothing that exciting, Myeon— the kids wanted to go shopping.”

 

15:36

“So, good and bad news.” Taeyong tossed someone’s backpack in the trunk— it was likely Donghyuk’s— and Minseok followed suit. “Jaemin’s injured, but Renjun’s back?”

“Are they alright?” Jongdae asked, turning around in one of the backseats of the van.

“Should be,” Taeyong reassured him, and Jongdae was suitably relieved. “Hyung, you can have the shotgun seat of course.”

Minseok definitely did not wink at Junmyeon and Jongdae stuck in the back as he took his seat.

Jongdae had forgotten how _loud_ high school boys could be, especially when crammed into tiny spaces with other teenagers and college students. And when it was December and Johnny turned on a Christmas album he had on his phone for some reason and the “kids” begun to wail along to it, the noise was even worse.

The thing was they weren’t even half bad, so Jongdae couldn’t exactly tell them to be quiet. (But the main reason was that he had practically no standing to do so.)

The camera crew which was joining them had only sent two people— one, with the camera, and the second with a bag of what Jongdae assumed was camera equipment. “Have you seen the video yet?” One of the ladies asked, and Junmyeon shook his head.

“Not yet, but I’m sure it’s going to be great! Everyone worked hard to make it succeed, so we hope it does.” Junmyeon turned to Jongdae, that soft smile Jongdae could never avoid encouraging him to speak up. “Right, Jongdae?”

“Right!” Jongdae agreed. “I know Jongin-ah and Baekhyun-ah had to do the most filming, so their parts should be spectacular.”

It turned out that dealing with teenage boys in a van was much, much easier than dealing with teenage boys in a mall. Jongdae wondered how Taeyong managed it and began to gaze at him in a sort of awe.

Minseok was surprisingly at ease with them. They all knew him, and he managed to keep a few of the more troublesome ones _away_ from the Gucci store. Jongdae rolled his eyes as he remembered all the many similar Gucci stores he and the rest of EX-M had been dragged into by Zitao over the course of their tours.

“I thought we might catch up on the episodes tonight?” Junmyeon whispered to Jongdae, out of audio range of both the camera and its operators. “We could have a sleepover.”

“That…. that’d be great. But the others may crash it.”

“That’s alright,” Minseok said, catching Jongdae by surprise. Apparently they’d been planning this in advance, and he was struck by how coordinated they were, how much of a team they had become.

Jongdae wondered if they had planned anything else, but for the moment was unable to get a read on them.

 

16:02

Jongin was avoiding him.

Kyungsoo groaned, thankful his roommate had gone out with Sehun to get tea so he could flop backwards onto his bed without appearing uncharacteristically childish. He fumbled around for the novel he’d put on his nightstand without actually looking for it, hoping it would provide a sufficient distraction.

There was something to be said for taking exams early, but now Kyungsoo was bored, and no one else was finished yet.

He’d made it about a third of the way through when he saw movement at the door to his room and Jongin entered.

Even though it was barely past four, Jongin looked exhausted.

He clutched a mostly-finished bubble tea in one hand and a stack of textbooks five high under the other, and as he stumbled towards their shared desk he didn’t notice Kyungsoo.

“Jongin-ah?” Kyungsoo called softly, eyes widening when Jongin physically jumped at his voice and dropped the textbooks on himself. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, thank you,” Jongin replied, but Kyungsoo was unconvinced. “Just finals, you know?”

Kyungsoo hummed in acknowledgement and returned to his novel, but kept an eye on Jongin in his peripheral vision. When he finished his reading, he set the book down on the bed next to him and left the room. Jongin didn’t look up from where he was scrawling notes on a textbook chapter on one of the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, as Kyungsoo worked to keep his exit as quiet and non-invasive as possible.

 

18:40

Baekhyun and Chanyeol returned home precisely on time to the smell of something delicious cooking. “Hey, Soo, what are you making?”

Kyungsoo shooed Baekhyun’s reaching hands away with the wooden spoon he held. “None of your business— it’s only one portion, and it sure isn’t yours.”

Baekhyun pouted until Chanyeol bribed him to leave Kyungsoo alone with a hug. As they left, Kyungsoo glanced at the time and kept on stirring the pot.

Fifteen minutes later, Kyungsoo turned the range off and transferred the soup to a bowl, grabbing a spoon that appeared to be the most appropriate utensil Jongdae owned and making a note to go shopping for proper cooking implements _because seriously, did they all have a wish to starve to death or something?_

Jongin was still hunched over the history textbook, and sure enough it was still Egyptian history. This time, Kyungsoo was careful to make his entrance loud enough that Jongin would be able to hear him even through his headphones.

Kyungsoo carefully moved some of Jongin’s vocabulary notecards to the side, and the freshman looked up and smiled when he saw Kyungsoo. “You look very busy, so I thought I’d make you some soup,” Kyungsoo started. For some reason, he felt the sudden urge to explain himself to Jongin, yet his nerves settled as Jongin’s smile became broader.

“Kyungsoo-yah, you didn’t have to! Thank you, it smells fantastic as per usual.”

 _As per usual,_ Kyungsoo thought, _that’s something I could probably get used to._

“It’s no trouble at all,” Kyungsoo reassured him, working to keep his expression blank as Jongin raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m sure you had to work to make it, so thank you for taking the time to keep me functioning.”

“Well, I tend to like you more when you’re functioning.” Jongin dropped his head to stare at his textbook, but Kyungsoo could see the blush climbing across his cheeks. “You know, the others are probably going to ask me to make them something when they get back…. if you want a change of scenery, you could work at the kitchen island while I cook for them?”

“You…. you’d let me?” Jongin couldn’t help but be shocked by that. Kyungsoo _never_ let the others be in the kitchen while he cooked, complaining that they either interrupted him or got in his way. “Wouldn’t I be in your way?”

“Nope,” Kyungsoo told him, and it was the truth. “You’d be the best cooking company. The offer stands for tonight, and any time you want to get out of the room and study elsewhere.”

Jongin stared at him for a moment as if deciding if Kyungsoo was being serious. “I’d love that,” he breathed, and Kyungsoo allowed himself a smile. “Thank you! Let me just pack this up and I’ll be there in a second. I wouldn’t want you to be lonely.”

That wasn’t what Kyungsoo had meant to convey, but he didn’t complain before leaving to relay the fact he was cooking to Chanyeol and Baekhyun, who were doing the verb conjugation/kiss game to study. Upon leaving their room, Kyungsoo took a moment to wonder how on earth they got any work done and even managed to have decent grades.

 

23:14

Kyungsoo made it one of his goals to stay up and keep Jongin company while he studied after they moved back into their room from the kitchen. He was therefore still awake when he heard the crash and quiet swears coming from the desk area.

Jongin pushed the chair back from the desk and grabbed as much as he could to rescue it because his textbooks and papers and notes and note cards had been taking up too much space on the desk and he’d knocked the vase of flowers Kyungsoo had set on it over for a second time. He’d have to recopy all ten pages of notes on feudal Japan that had been ruined by the water, and he’d _just_ had to remake all of his linear algebra flashcards.

Just as he reached to save his flashcards, a different hand swept in to the rescue. Kyungsoo stood beside him, hair ruffled and glasses askew but trying to help just the same. Together, they moved the various study materials onto the floor before Kyungsoo took a short break to go run for some paper towels.

“Where’s the fire?” Jongdae quipped as he quite literally ran past him, Junmyeon, and Minseok where they were (don’t tell the managers) grabbing snacks in the kitchen in the middle of their 25 DAYS WITH EXO marathon. Kyungsoo didn’t grace him with a response.

When he returned, he found that Jongin had managed to save most of the work…. except for the subject he had been struggling the most in. “I can’t believe this,” he said as Kyungsoo stepped inside and shut the door behind him. “I saved my linear algebra notecards, but my linear algebra notebook and therefore all of my notes are gone.” Jongin pinned Kyungsoo with the most upset gaze he’d ever seen from the other, and Kyungsoo realized that Jongin was very close to tears.

“Hey, I can help you,” Kyungsoo told him, trying to keep his tone light and hoping he succeeded. Jongin didn’t say anything, and Kyungsoo noticed with a start that he was crying already.

“The exam’s tomorrow,” Jongin sobbed, and Kyungsoo crouched down next to him and rested one hand on his shoulder and the other on the floor so he could keep his balance.

“Sshh, Jongin-ah…. maybe let’s go ask Junmyeon for advice? And I’ll help you recopy everything, I swear,” Kyungsoo said, sliding his hand from Jongin’s shoulder to the opposite shoulder so they were closer together. “It’s alright, I’m sure you’ll do well on it even despite this.” Jongin was obviously unconvinced, as he was still crying.

Kyungsoo didn’t want to leave him alone, but he really did have to ask Junmyeon for advice and it didn’t seem like Jongin would be leaving their room soon, so he pulled the blanket from his own bed and wrapped Jongin it before he went.

Hopefully Junmyeon would have some answers.

 

DECEMBER 6 – 02:54

“See, you’re ready.” Kyungsoo managed to keep the ‘ _I told you so’_ off of the end of his statement, but it was close.

Jongin had begun to feel better some time into his second mug of hot tea. “Thank you, Soo-yah,” he said, and Kyungsoo hushed him, warning against using his failing voice.

“You can thank me after you finish your exams,” Kyungsoo replied, smiling freely now.

“I’ll make a note of that,” Jongin smiled back, and Kyungsoo couldn’t help but think that just based on that, he’d done enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> question: "so, what do you want for christmas?"  
> me: is a ride on a one horse open sleigh with dream an option? no? then i'll take some chocolate.


	6. DECEMBER 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We met at a house party, surprisingly enough,” Minseok continued, and Jongdae closed his eyes to listen. “I found him listening to you and crying in the bathroom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's some fluff to hopefully improve your week ♥

Kyungsoo was once again reading when Jongin returned, although this time he was stationed on one of the entertainment room couches. “I’d ask how it went, but I’m not sure you want to talk about it.” Jongin laughed at that as he fell onto the couch Kyungsoo was on, eyes clamped shut.

“I have a headache, but other than that I think it went fine. I didn’t fail it, at least!” Jongin opened his eyes again, even though it must have been painful for him to see the lighting of the room. “Thank you for helping me last night— you didn’t have to do that.”

Kyungsoo laughed, and Jongin couldn’t help but smile at the sound. “It was the least I could have done,” Kyungsoo told him, and Jongin closed his eyes and tossed an arm over them. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

He returned shortly with a glass of water and pain meds, which he placed in Jongin’s open hand. “There you go— drink it slowly, and it should help.”

Kyungsoo turned back to his novel; Jongin dozed off slowly as the pain lessened.

“I almost missed my final,” he said after about an hour, startling Kyungsoo into dropping his book. As if he knew what had happened without having to open his eyes, Jongin chuckled. “So many people stopped me to take selcas with them that I came sprinting in right before the instructions began being read.”

“Selcas?” The blanket Jongin had been using began to slide down, and as he waved a sleepy hand around in search of it Kyungsoo grabbed onto it before Jongin could and pulled it up for him.

“Yes, most of the school has seen the video. It won’t be long until they show up here, you can count on it….”

Kyungsoo hummed and stared out the window. It was threatening to snow, and the bottom floor of the house was starting to get chilly. “Hey, Jongin? Do you want to nap in the library? It’s much warmer.”

“We have a _library?”_ Jongin was fully awake at that, sitting up and already gathering his blanket. “I didn’t even know we had one, but now we have to go.”

Kyungsoo, as the one who knew where said room was, lead the way up the stairs. “Yixing is holed up in here quite often; he finds it calming. No one’s quite sure what he does here, though, because he probably isn’t reading.” Kyungsoo didn’t have to turn to be sure that Jongin was raising an eyebrow. “My guess is that he’s meditating.”

“Huh. I may have to ask him the next time I’m in the studio.”

With that, the library door was opened and Kyungsoo stepped inside, sending Jongin scrambling to follow. “Jongdae and Baekhyun have a surprising amount of works in here,” Kyungsoo told him, “most likely due to Baekhyun’s major.”

All of a sudden, Kyungsoo disappeared, and Jongin realized that he had turned a corner. The library spanned two of the bedrooms, which made sense to Jongin as soon as he realized it was almost the exact same size as their entertainment room. When Jongin reached Kyungsoo’s new location, he saw an even comfier couch and beanbag set.

“Much better, isn’t it?”

Kyungsoo shouldn’t even have had to ask, but he did, and afterwards he fell fast asleep.

 

16:00

“Have you seen Kyungsoo or Jongin?” Yixing asked Sehun. “I thought they were going to cook, but I haven’t seen either of them and they’re supposed to be back by now.”

“ _I_ haven’t,” Sehun replied, appearing guilty for some reason, and Junmyeon resisted the urge to pat him on the head.

“Who has, then?”

“They’ve probably seen each other,” Minseok reasoned. “They’ve been weirdly inseparable these past few days.”

“Kind of like you, Junmyeon, and Jongdae?” Baekhyun asked, voice full of mirth.

Jongdae didn’t make a big deal out of it, but he _did_ remind himself to lecture Baekhyun later.

“Kind of like us, Baek,” Chanyeol told Baekhyun, and Sehun was the only one who was unable to understand that. Jongdae replanned his day because Chanyeol had done his work for him.

As Yixing wandered off towards the library, Jongdae placed the order he’d been working on and checked the arrival date. His phone chimed with a message from their manager on the topic; Minseok noticed it and read it, but gave him a mischievous look instead of commenting on it.

Yixing and the cameras climbed the stairs together. The dancer was looking forward to being able to sit in quiet for a short while and think of his solo, which, although rather uninteresting for the cameras, would lead to a great end result.

He’d helped Sehun and Jongin with theirs today— Chanyeol and the cameras had come to watch Sehun practice, but Jongin was adamant about no one other than Yixing seeing his. Yixing wondered if it was because Jongin was dancing for someone, but decided it was not his place to ask. Whatever the cause, it was going to be a beautiful stage.

Yixing stepped into the library and realized he wasn’t alone. He turned towards the cameras and raised a finger to his lips, hushing the viewers as he crept inside.

Sure enough, Jongin and Kyungsoo were in there as well. Yixing was thankful he’d decided to be quiet— they were both fast asleep. _Kai and D.O.,_ the text added later to the episode would say, _busy dreaming about their upcoming solos!_

They had no idea.

 

16:23

Jongdae was distracted. He tried to listen to what Baekhyun was telling him, tried to focus on what he was hearing, but all he could hear was a driving beat and all he could see was a flashing countdown for visuals and then all he could hear was Junmyeon— _Junmyeon—_ screaming as it dropped out, and when he came back to himself Baekhyun and Chanyeol were staring at him like he’d suddenly become an alien.

"What did I do?" Jongdae asked, already knowing he'd embarrassed himself somehow.

“You just came up with something, didn’t you?” Baekhyun chanced, hesitating slightly between words as if afraid of the answer.

This time, Jongdae heard the words of his friend. “I think so,” he said, and Chanyeol was handing him his laptop before the sentence was finished.

 _1980s Underground Rave,_ he typed into the search bar, and Jongdae and the others settled in for an afternoon of research.

 

22:40

Minseok knew what Jongdae was after before any of the others realized it. “It’s a remix, isn’t it?” He asked, and Junmyeon rolled over to hear from his bed.

“It is,” Jongdae admitted, voice uncharacteristically soft.

“Which one?”

“’Let Out the Beast.’” Junmyeon gasped, and Jongdae heard his covers rustle.

" _’Let Out the Beast?’_ That one’s always been my favorite.” Jongdae gasped then, as Junmyeon had accidentally sat on his leg. “Oh, sorry. Let me move.”

Junmyeon chose a spot not occupied by Jongdae and stared at him. Jongdae couldn’t see much of his features, but Junmyeon appeared oddly calm. “You know, that’s the song which was playing when I first met Minnie?”

Jongdae blinked, and blinked again. There were more rustles from across the room, and then Minseok was settling in a spot next to Junmyeon. Together, they blocked the small amount of light that made it past the curtain, but Jongdae couldn’t complain because it lit them up and turned their silhouettes into silver-white.

“We met at a house party, surprisingly enough,” Minseok continued, and Jongdae closed his eyes to listen. “I found him listening to you and crying in the bathroom.”

“It did _not_ go like that, Minseok!” Junmyeon shrieked, startling Jongdae and waking the pair next door. “I…. I was crying over my test grade.”

“Awww,” Jongdae cooed, but Minseok shook his head.

“Nope, you were crying because Jongdae-yah found your fansite for him.”

“What?”

“Oh my god, hyung, you are going to die. And I am going to be the one to murder you.”

“Oh. OH! You were _that_ fansite? The really sweet one which posted fics as well?”

“I don’t know myself. Who is this Kim Junmyeon of whom you speak?”

“Well, at least you are a good writer, and you didn’t ship me with a panda.”

“That happened?”

“Yes, it did— Zitao-yah came to me terrified almost beyond belief because he’d laid his innocent eyes on it.”

“The great Z.Tao? Innocent?”

“ _Usu_ ally.”

 

23:08

As Minseok’s breathing evened out, it started to snow.

Jongdae saw the snow he had wished for and began writing the stages which required such weather, and the drifting flakes sped his hand across the paper and the thoughts in his mind.

“Jongdae-yah? You’re still working?” Junmyeon’s voice was soft as it tended to be, but in this case it was to avoid waking Minseok. “You can write tomorrow, you know,” he said, but Jongdae showed no sign of slowing down.

Junmyeon snuck out of bed and carried the plush chair from the corner of the room over to Jongdae’s desk, where he settled and watched as Jongdae wrote.

“Aren’t you getting tired, Dae?” He asked as time ticked by. Like clockwork, Jongdae’s characters had steadily begun getting sloppier as well, and Junmyeon started to worry.

“I’m alright, hyung,” Jongdae told him, barely thinking about his response, and Junmyeon noticed the exact moment he noticed because the pen stopped moving and Jongdae went completely still. “Pardon me, Junmyeon-ssi, I’m—“

“Hey,” Junmyeon interrupted, standing up from his chair to wrap his arms around Jongdae from behind. “I didn’t say you couldn’t call me hyung now, did I?”

Jongdae startled at the proximity but was too tired to truly react. “No…. hyung, you didn’t.”

“Good, Jongdae.” Junmyeon dropped his chin so it rested on Jongdae’s shoulder as he resumed creating. “Finish up soon.”

Junmyeon didn’t seem to be moving, so Jongdae sped up.

The lyrics spanned inky black across the pages, and as soon as he finished Jongdae shook out his aching hand and— accompanied by Junmyeon’s nagging— finally got ready for bed. When he returned from the bathroom, he saw Junmyeon was on his bed again.

“You know that’s my bed, right?”

“Yup,” Minseok said. Neither had noticed that he had awakened before then. “But he always gets cold.”

Jongdae resisted the urge to _awww_ at that, because Junmyeon did look rather adorable burrowing into his pillows. “Wait, what’s this?” Junmyeon mumbled into them, fishing around under Jongdae’s covers for something. “Oh, it’s Pikachu!”

Sure enough, Junmyeon had unearthed Jongdae’s Pikachu plush. “That’s adorable, Dae-yah,” Minseok commented, padding across the room to join the two and smirking at Jongdae’s flustered expression.

“…… That bed’s made for one person. Not three.”

As Jongdae would continue to learn in the future, such arguments were a futile effort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Looks at all I have to write*  
> Sail sail sail gotta go gotta go


	7. DECEMBER 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “TELL HYUNG I’M STILL AN ELECTRIC BOY,” came Jongdae’s scream from downstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update one of ten— _ten_ — planned for today!

DECEMBER 7 — 04:45

There was something settling about the routine Minseok and Jongdae fell into. Every morning, they woke at the same time and Jongdae waited for Minseok to finish dressing before letting the cameras in. Junmyeon dozed happily on the other side of the room or mumbled incoherently in a half-asleep half-awake state as Jongdae climbed over him to shut off their alarm.

They’d gone from two to one due to the insistence of one of their housemates (read: Baekhyun), but never struggled to make it to their destination on time. If one overslept, the other was there with a gentle presence to wake them.

Somehow, the pain of their work slipped away as they drowned the screaming of their cores in SEVENTEEN albums.

 

7:10

Minseok was quiet as he made them coffee. It wasn’t anything unusual, this silence between the two, as odd as it might have seemed upon first glance.

Junmyeon was the next one up, drawn to the smell of the coffee like a moth to flame. They’d learned early on that Minseok had to make him one as well, because Junmyeon would show up no matter what.

“Good morning, Seokkie,” Junmyeon greeted, and Jongdae glanced away as he gave Minseok a kiss on the cheek.

“Good morning, Dae Dae,” he continued, stepping over to give Jongdae a back hug in a mirror to the night before. “Did you two sleep well? I’m sure you have already been very pro-duc-tive.”

Jongdae and Minseok told him as much, because they had been indeed.

It wasn’t until later, when Minseok was sipping on his second cup, that something came to Jongdae’s mind. It was quiet at first, the beginning of a song stuck in his mind, and he paid it little mind until he realized that he couldn’t identify it.

_It was something new._

“Hey,” Jongdae murmured, and Junmyeon and Minseok turned their attention towards him as one. “I think I may have something.”

Jongdae closed his eyes and barely heard the _clink_ of Minseok moving his cup to the sink for him. Junmyeon resumed his previous position and wrapped his hands around the back of Jongdae’s hands, the pressure and weight of him successfully grounding Jongdae.

“It’s a train,” Jongdae whispered, and they listened.

“What kind of train?”

He was quiet, except for the whistle of air escaping between his teeth. “A cosmic one,” Jongdae said. “A cosmic railway.”

“It must be beautiful.” Minseok said, tone soft enough and presence close enough to avoid snapping Jongdae out of the creative state he was in.

“It is,” Jongdae replied, and he opened his eyes.

 

12:22

Chanyeol sat on a beanbag, his laptop and Baekhyun in his lap. Or, more accurately, Baekhyun was sprawled across Chanyeol’s lap and was holding the other’s laptop in his hands for Chanyeol to use. Jongdae sat down next to them and didn’t bat an eye, having long since gotten used to finding the pair in odd places.

“A cosmic railway, huh?” The cameras zoomed in on Chanyeol’s face as he concentrated, leaning in closer to his computer screen (and Baekhyun, who watched Chanyeol from below with widened eyes). The tracklist would have to be released soon, and the entire group had been…. worried, to say the least, about both that _and_ finals.

Chanyeol looked up and caught Jongdae’s eye. “I can work with that.”

 

16:51

Jongin was in the library again. He’d curled up on the seating and was reading an American graphic novel when Kyungsoo found him. “Happy to be finished with exams?” He asked, and Jongin gave him a look of delight.

 _“So happy,”_ he replied with a soft laugh, and Kyungsoo decided then and there that his goal for the break would be to find the things that made him smile like that. “Jongdae said that if it’s alright with everyone, Sehun and I could bring our pups here to live with us! So I thought I’d start with you?”

Kyungsoo stood in front of the chair for a moment, trying to figure out what Jongin was saying. It took him a little bit, but eventually he deciphered it. “You want to have your dogs here?”

Jongin’s smile slipped as if he was unaware of it happening. “Is…. is that okay? Do you not like dogs?” Kyungsoo noticed that a pair of earbuds was slung over his shoulders, although he couldn’t hear any sound coming from them.

Had he been able to hear, he would have encountered an instrumental which would have taken his breath away.

“No! No, I like dogs.” Kyungsoo was quick to reply, not wanting to see Jongin being quietly upset any longer. It was true— he had nothing against dogs, even if he didn’t have one himself. “I just didn’t immediately understand what you were saying. It would be lovely to have them here!”

And just like that, the mood in the entire library lifted.

“What are you reading?” Jongin lifted the book to show Kyungsoo the cover. Kyungsoo would be lying if he said he wasn’t surprised when he read the English title: _Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye (Full Volume)._

“Yixing suggested that we give ‘Transformer’ a try— it’s one of the unreleased tracks Jongdae shared with us,” Jongin explained, and the explanation slowly dawned on Kyungsoo. “—so he wants us to do research into the canon to see what we can modify for the choreo.”

It was then that Kyungsoo realized he’d never seen Jongin truly dance. Sure, he’d seen his pieces from the group choreo and Jongin had done well with them, but he hadn’t seen that special something Jongin must have been selected for. “You know,” he started, and watched as Jongin gave him his full attention. “I still don’t know what kind of dance you do.”

“What discipline?” Jongin replied, and Kyungsoo would once again be lying if he said it didn’t sound a little bit _teasing._ “You’ll have to wait and see for that, Kyungsoo…. speaking of which, may I call you hyung?”

Kyungsoo nodded, not trusting his voice enough to say yes verbally.

 

16:55

“What if we re-did ‘MAMA’?” Sehun asked, and Jongdae looked up from where he was hunched over his lyrics notebook. “Like, if we did Kyungsoo hyung’s Korean version and made it into something…. different?”

Intriguing. “What’s your thinking?”

“You wanted metal, didn’t you?” Sehun smirked, and Jongdae felt himself mirroring it.

“That’d work,” Jongdae told him, and Sehun cheered internally. “And that would be the _sickest_ intro ever.” He thought for a moment, drumming his fingers against the tabletop. “We’d have to modify the choreo, but that we can do. Maybe Yeol could be our drummer for it?”

“He probably could.” Junmyeon appeared fully invested in the conversation, and— not for the first time— Jongdae was pleased they’d taken him on as part of the group. “Who would take which part, though?”

“Kyungsoo opens,” Jongdae said without a second of hesitation.

 

18:00

“EX-M MARATHON!” Baekhyun screamed from the head of the hallway, and a variety of heads poked out from their bedrooms. “Get out, get out! We’re picking what we’ll cover!”

“IF WE’RE COVERING M, WE NEED POWERS!!!” Yixing shouted back, making Baekhyun pause. “Mom, I’m gonna be a superhero!” The cameraman broke down into giggles, covering his mouth so they wouldn’t be audible in the final cut.

“TELL HYUNG I’M STILL AN ELECTRIC BOY,” came Jongdae’s scream from downstairs. Kyungsoo and Jongin sighed as one and packed up their work, heading out of the library and back into the chaos of the main house. They didn’t want to miss out on the beauty of EX-M, after all.

Someone vanished into the kitchen to make popcorn as soon as they were allowed to. When the bowl appeared, it was Chanyeol and Baekhyun clutching it tightly as they sprinted from the kitchen into the safety of the entertainment room. “He’s coming! Satan is coming!”

Jongdae, Junmyeon, Minseok, Jongin, Yixing, and Sehun turned as one. _“Kyungsoo?”_

Sure enough, Kyungsoo came racing into the entertainment room after them, something terrifying in his eyes.

“Holy—“ Sehun gasped as Kyungsoo headed straight for the pair.

“R-I-P,” Jongin commented in English, and Jongdae quite literally fell off his couch.

Once the situation had calmed (and Baekhyun and Chanyeol had been reprimanded for stealing the popcorn before it had been buttered and salted, causing more work for Kyungsoo), the nine curled up on the various seating and covered themselves in blankets as Jongdae pressed play on the remote.

They went in chronological order through the videos: “WHAT IS LOVE,” “MAMA,” “History,” and “Wolf.” Once those were finished, Jongdae pulled out a package and opened it. In it was EX-M’s first tour DVD, so they watched it next.

At approximately halfway into “Black Pearl,” Jongdae felt Minseok’s head drop onto his shoulder. His hyung was still awake, but Jongdae was more than willing to serve as a pillow for him.

On Jongdae’s other side, Junmyeon scooted in, close enough that their sides touched. In theory, it was nothing compared to having them be his human koalas at three in the morning, but something about it felt more important, more pressing, more significant.

“You’ve always had that voice, haven’t you,” Junmyeon said to Jongdae, quiet enough that the others wouldn’t hear.

“And we’ve always loved it,” Minseok added without lifting his head.

Jongdae couldn’t think of anything to add to _that,_ so he stayed quiet. Baekhyun was giving him a questioning glance from across the couches.

He decided to start a conversation in the hopes that it would distract the pair surrounding him from tormenting him more. “Has anyone found one they think we should cover?”

“’MAMA,’ definitely,” Kyungsoo said, raising his hand politely.

“We were just thinking that we could do your version!” Jongin exclaimed, and Jongdae could have sworn the singer was trying his hardest to keep from blushing in front of Jongin after he said it.

 _How interesting,_ Jongdae thought. Upon looking across the space at Baekhyun, he saw his friend giving him a similar look of consideration. _What’s up with those two?_ Jongdae asked without speaking, and Baekhyun gave him a soft shrug. It disrupted Chanyeol, who— like Minseok still was to Jongdae— was using Baekhyun’s shoulder as a pillow, and Chanyeol grumbled something that Jongdae couldn’t hear to Baekhyun.

 _If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Satan over there is **interested,**_ Baekhyun replied, and Jongdae gave him a nod in acknowledgement before turning back towards the concert playing.

“I think Junmyeon could do ‘Baby Don’t Cry’ very well,” Chanyeol said, and Baekhyun looked away from Jongdae as well.

_Looked like the Min-Myeon-Dae trio wouldn’t be his only project, after all._


	8. DECEMBER 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We can also be supported with kisses,” Junmyeon said, and based on the tone he said it in Jongdae was unsure if he was serious or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update two of the day— please make sure you've read December 7 before this one!

DECEMBER 8— 06:23

“Dae Dae?” Jongdae stretched like a cat and heard the voice above him chuckle. “Good, you’re awake. Minnie just got home.”

 _Minnie?_ Jongdae wondered, but his mind was still too stuck in _sleep_ mode to properly process what was going on around him. The bed dipped and then someone was lying down next to Jongdae, who didn’t open his eyes before scooting over towards the warmth. He’d gotten cold some time during the night and found himself drawn to any source of heat he could find.

“Aw, Dae,” Minseok cooed, running a hand through Jongdae’s already-ruffled hair. Jongdae’s eyes snapped open when he heard Minseok’s voice, awake enough now to realize who it was.

“Minseok hyung? What time is it?” Junmyeon stood next to the bed, but now he moved to block the clock face from Jongdae’s searching eyes.

“Just before six-thirty,” Minseok told him, and was there to press Jongdae back down when he tried to scramble up. “Hey, hey, where do you think you’re going?”

Jongdae blinked up at him. “I have to get to the gym,” he said, and it sounded perfectly reasonable to him— until he realized that Minseok was already in his workout clothes and had most likely just come home from the gym. “Oh. You already went?”

“Yes. You didn’t wake up earlier, so I told Minseok to let you sleep because you’d barely get an hour’s rest if you went to the gym.”

“Ugh,” Jongdae groaned, “No wonder I feel like I got run over by an eight-ton truck.”

Minseok hummed a melody under his breath and resumed petting Jongdae’s hair. “You need to rest, Jongdae,” he said, and it was decidedly scolding.

“We know you were up until three again, Dae-yah,” Junmyeon continued, and Jongdae made an unclassifiable noise into the first pillow he could find. “You’ll get sick if you don’t take care of yourself.”

Minseok had taken to running his fingers in circles, and they not so slowly lulled Jongdae back under. “Is he out?” Junmyeon whispered after a little while, and Minseok nodded. “Aish, Jongdae,” the leader tutted, crouching down until he was level with Jongdae’s sleeping form so he could press a kiss to the crown of his head. Minseok slid his hand out of the way, but as soon as Junmyeon was done he resumed the small motions.

When Jongdae woke and stretched again, Minseok was gone but Junmyeon had taken his place. “Ah, you’re back,” he said, and Jongdae nodded into the pillow. “It’s about ten-fifty, by the way. And I know you’re going to freak out, but remember— your last final was yesterday.”

Jongdae did as he was told and relaxed at the knowledge that he was finally, _finally_ finished with exams. “Thank you for staying, hyung,” he said, voice rough at the edges from lack of use.

What he didn’t mention were the late nights of Junmyeon and Minseok; the ever-deepening _tiredness_ in their eyes; the hours he wished he could steal for them, hours from his day he could hand to them and with it give them the gift of sleep.

“I can’t believe you have to grade exams next week,” Jongdae whined, although the tone was more for the benefit of the graduate student than despair for his grades.

“And I have to, too!” Minseok piped up from the doorway. Jongdae wasn’t sure how long he had been leaning against the frame, but judging by how unsurprised Junmyeon appeared guessed it had been a while at least.

“Oh no, my favorite hyungs have so much work to do!” Jongdae was honestly worried about it— even though he’d finished his exams and the pair didn’t have to take any, the amount of work they would be facing would be the work of full college classes, plus EXO intermixed with those. He reminded himself to add Minseok’s favorite coffee blend to the shopping list for today. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

“You’ve already paid us back,” Minseok told Jongdae, “by taking our exams and doing well, I’m certain of it.”

“We can also be supported with kisses,” Junmyeon said, and based on the tone he said it in Jongdae was unsure if he was serious or not.

 

13:57

“Alright, you are all done here except for Jongdae, Jongin, and Yixing!” The vocal coach exclaimed, and as one the other six rose and left the building. Junmyeon and Minseok stalled at the exit, but a quick look from Jongdae sent them on their way. “Jongin here has asked for some help with his solo,” the coach explained once the door was fully shut behind everyone.

"What is it going to be?” Jongdae asked. He’d seen everyone work on their solos except for Jongin, so he couldn’t help but be curious as to what the dancer was planning.

Jongin hesitated at first, and even before he said his next words Jongdae knew something was going to change, although he was unsure exactly what it would be. “Its theme is ‘trapped in love.’”

 _Trapped in love?_ Jongdae stared at him for a moment, trying to process what he had heard. “Do you need vocals to dance to?”

“I want to sing it live myself,” Jongin told him, and Jongdae’s mind whirred back to life.

“May I see the choreography?” Jongdae wasn’t sure if he was asking for too much, but hoped he was not— it would be difficult to write lyrics or a vocal melody without knowledge of the dance itself.

Jongin took a look around. The coach had left as soon as he had called Yixing and Jongdae back, so the studio was empty. He nodded at Yixing, who plugged Jongin’s phone into the jack and selected a track.

The dancer knelt in the center of the dance studio floor, head bowed as it was in "Electric Kiss." Already, Jongdae could _feel_ something from the position, something he was sure would carry over into the song.

And Jongin was moving, faster and more nimbly than Jongdae could have even dreamed. It was twisting yet elegant, a showcase of raw strength hidden behind seemingly effortless execution.

Right as Jongdae thought he had captured its feeling, the instrumentals changed and Jongin began to walk, and then run, and then _twirl,_ and Jongdae knew nothing about dance and none of the vocabulary for it but was held spellbound by the solo nonetheless.

 _Jongin was a ballerina,_ he realized with a start.

He had had no idea.

 

22:10

“I saw the most beautiful thing today,” Jongdae murmured as Minseok took his now-usual spot behind him.

“What was it, Dae?” Junmyeon asked as soon as he had finished brushing his teeth.

“I can’t tell you because it’s secret right now, but you’ll know it when you see it.”

“Alright then,” Junmyeon said, tapping Jongdae’s nose to get him to scoot over so he’d fit on the bed.

 

23:49

Kyungsoo woke unsure of what had pulled from his sleep. And then he heard it: Jongin was saying something to him, and it seemed to be something long. He sat up in their darkened room and looked around, but couldn’t see Jongin.

He slipped out from under his covers and crossed to where Jongin’s bed was, trying to keep his footfalls from being too loud in the quiet.

Jongin was still talking, but when Kyungsoo leaned over, his eyes were closed.

Jongin talked. Kyungsoo listened and wondered.

He wondered who Jongin was talking to; if he would remember it in the morning; if it was a dream which would fade into the blackness of the room, never to escape it and to disappear forever.

Jongin didn’t know it, but from then on Kyungsoo always listened. He made sure that whenever Jongin left the room in the middle of the night he came back safely and didn’t wander, and at some time between one and three became a silent sentinel in the night.

He would always listen.


	9. DECEMBER 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Downstairs, Sehun paused scrolling through his Instagram and stared at the ceiling above him in pure and utter horror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Third update— remember to check out December 7 and December 8 first!
> 
> If there's something you would like to see in the upcoming days, please let me know and I'll see if it fits in. ♥

DECEMBER 9 — 07:11

“So you’re going to be performing right before us?” Minseok asked his phone as he made Jongdae’s Americano.

“That’s right,” Taeyong said from the other end of the line. “We won’t do too much, but we’re planning on one of Johnny’s current works-in-progress and then a cover by the rappers amongst us.”

Jongdae and Junmyeon exchanged a look. They had been unaware of the group having rappers amongst them, but they’d seen enough in the past month to know when not to question something.

“That sounds great! We’ll be looking forward to seeing you in the studio for rehearsal.” With that, the call ended and Minseok finished the drink. Jongdae took a grateful sip of it— the Americano was perfect, as per usual.

Minseok began working on his own Americano, and shortly thereafter the kitchen was shrouded in the smell of coffee and a shared kind of hush.

“Do we have practice this morning?” Jongdae asked, and Junmyeon nodded. Without classes or exams, the days had already begun to blur together in an abstract painting composed of the following colors: dance practice, vocal work, lyrics, producing, recording, meals with the group, and sleep at odd hours.

Junmyeon fingered at the handle of his mug. “We do,” he replied, and Jongdae made a note to arrive a little earlier than last time to stretch for longer. He was sore from yesterday, an incessant burn lingering practically everywhere. “Why do you ask? Is everything alright?”

Jongdae pushed the ache to the back of his mind. He didn’t have enough time to think about such things. “Yes, hyung, everything’s alright!” Jongdae gave Junmyeon his classic feline smile, and it seemed to appease the leader.

Junmyeon was not appeased, and both he and Minseok decided to keep a closer watch on Jongdae throughout the day to determine if he was truly alright.

 

12:07

The group ate lunch together— one of the many daily rituals Junmyeon had installed upon being chosen as leader.

Through the meal, Jongdae and Baekhyun watched Jongin, Jongin watched Kyungsoo, Chanyeol watched Baekhyun, and Junmyeon and Minseok watched Jongdae. Kyungsoo watched his food.

Chanyeol was barely awake— Junmyeon reminded himself to tell Baekhyun to make him get some sleep if he didn’t sleep on his own. If there was one thing handy that had come from the pair, it was how one could quickly accomplish something for the other.

Although his face didn’t show it, Jongdae was even sorer than this morning. Junmyeon decided he’d ask if Jongdae wanted help stretching after he finished cleaning the kitchen.

Minseok seemed to be slightly sore, but nowhere near the level of the other. Kyungsoo was limping, and it had scared Junmyeon half to death when he first noticed it. Baekhyun had been smart and taken a few painkillers with his meal and given a couple to Chanyeol as well. The dance line looked fine, as per usual.

Junmyeon himself was _hurting,_ but his pain came behind that of his members.

He wasn’t expecting to be cornered by _Sehun_ afterwards, but then he realized that of course it would be the maknae who would notice. “Junmyeon hyung?” He asked as he washed the final plate. “Are you alright? Practice was hard this morning.” Sehun kept watching him, and Junmyeon quickly realized that he wouldn’t escape this easily.

“Thank you, Sehunnie— I’m alright. Please don’t worry; I’m just a little sore is all.”

“You’re alright? Just alright?”

And then Minseok was there, wrapping his arms around Junmyeon’s chest. The familiar presence let him breathe for a second, let him ignore for a second how his body was screaming at him. “Hello Myeon,” he greeted. “Will you come with me for a second?”

“Sure thing, hyung,” Junmyeon replied, and allowed himself to be led away from the kitchen.

“You should stretch more, Junmyeon-ah,” Minseok reminded him as they went upstairs towards their room. “You’re obviously hurting. Would you let me help you?”

Junmyeon nodded, and Minseok motioned for him to sit on the floor before him. “You’re lucky no one else noticed. Sehun will keep it quiet, thankfully, though you need to take better care of yourself.” Minseok broke off to give Junmyeon his best glare. “Alright, let’s do the regulars,” Minseok instructed, and helped with the positions when necessary. After some time, when Junmyeon’s back had begun to relax some, Minseok told him to drop the stretch he was currently working on. “Myeon-ah, you’re going to have to trust me with this one. It’s going to hurt, but it shouldn’t harm you. May I start it?”

After a short moment of consideration, Junmyeon agreed. “What must I do?”

“Put the flats of your feet together like this, and then press down on your knees.”

Junmyeon was confused. This was a stretch he could do and _had_ started doing on his own— _what was Minseok after?_ The elder knelt behind him and Junmyeon felt Minseok press his chest against his back, but still didn’t understand.

And then Minseok leaned an increasing amount of his weight on Junmyeon’s back and replaced Junmyeon’s hands with his own and instructed him to lean his upper body forward towards the floor and _oh,_ did Junmyeon ever understand.

His mouth dropped open and he couldn’t even find the willpower to close it. Everything was lost in a white-hot flood of pain, and Junmyeon wasn’t sure if he was making noise or not. He was certain Minseok was saying something to him but he couldn’t hear, not until he got used to the stretch and the pain slowly began to fade away and brought his hearing back with it. Minseok was indeed talking to him, counting down from ninety. They were at ten when he finally understood Minseok’s words, and Junmyeon exhaled for the final few counts.

When Minseok leaned back, Junmyeon barely felt his elbows hit the floor. “Are you okay, Junmyeon? Can you move your legs for me?”

“I’m alright,” he gasped, and Minseok stood to give him more room.

“What the hell?!” Jongdae burst into the room, a half-eaten apple in one hand. “What is going on in here? Are you dying?”

Junmyeon laughed as he moved his legs again, much to Minseok’s relief. “I’m better now, Jongdae-yah,” he said, and Jongdae gave him a judging look. “Quit judging your hyung, you!”

 

15:32

Kyungsoo was still limping, and Jongin had had enough with it. “Kyungsoo!” He called, snapping the elder’s attention away from his progress across the library. “Come on, I’m going to help you with your hips.”

It was a few hours after The Junmyeon Incident™, but said event was still fresh in (and somewhat scarred into) everyone’s minds. Kyungsoo swallowed hard as Jongin pulled him away and back to their room. “Is something like last time alright?” Jongin asked, and Kyungsoo barely had to think before he remembered how relaxed he felt afterwards and wanted to feel it again, even despite the pain it took to get there.

“That sounds great— thank you, JonGIN-AH!”

Downstairs, Sehun paused scrolling through his Instagram and stared at the ceiling above him in pure and utter horror. Across the table from him, Yixing set down his guitar and joined him in staring upwards.

 

21:00

As the clock stuck nine, Junmyeon moved one of Jongdae’s plushes out of his way; Minseok climbed over Jongdae, careful to not disrupt him or accidentally whack him with his stack of pillows; and Jongdae slept better than he had in days, caught in the now-familiar position of between the pair.

As the clock struck nine and the pair waited for sleep to come to them, Minseok reached out and linked hands with Junmyeon. Beneath their interlaced fingers, Jongdae slept on undisturbed.


	10. DECEMBER 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Like you and Chanyeol aren’t all over each other _everywhere!”_ Jongin retorted, and it was enough to make Baekhyun stalk past them with a huff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Worst writer's block ever. x.x

DECEMBER 10 — 04:45

As Jongdae flailed at his nightstand to shut off their alarm, an arm intercepted him on his right. Junmyeon turned the alarm off and rolled over to face Jongdae and Minseok, who were working on getting themselves into a more alive state. “Good morning,” Junmyeon greeted them, and the pair was quick to send back a similar greeting. “Is it alright if I join you this morning?” He asked, and Minseok and Jongdae froze in surprise.

“Of course it is, Myeon-ah,” Minseok said, and that morning the cameras were delighted to see a trio instead of a pair.

“What should we listen to?” Junmyeon asked as they prepared to do their workout.

“Do you mind if we watch something instead?” Jongdae asked back, and Minseok and Jongdae gave him the all-okay. “I’ve been meaning to watch _Stray Kids_ for a while, would you like to start it here?”

“That counts as research!” Junmyeon agreed, and the trio grinned at each other. “If we really like it, then we may be able to watch it as a group later.”

 

06:10

“Crying over an elimination show at six in the morning…. Not what I thought I’d be doing when I woke up today.”

 

08:15

Jongin sat at the kitchen island while Kyungsoo made breakfast for the group. He doodled on a scrap of paper, sending black lines flying across its surface as Kyungsoo peered into the fridge and mourned the lack of decent food in it. The exam season had seriously diminished its contents.

In the center of the scrap was a sun, and branching out from it were varying feats of nature: a lightning strike, a crystal made of water, a wave from the depths of the sea. “What’re you drawing, Nini?” Kyungsoo asked, still pondering his options in terms of ingredients.

Jongin wasn’t sure when the change had occurred, but at some point Kyungsoo had begun calling him by that. He couldn’t complain, and did what he could to actively encourage it. “I’m not exactly sure,” Jongin replied, staring at the constellation he had begun in the left top corner of the scrap. “I listened to an album this morning, and I think it may have given me some ideas for our powers.”

“Oh?” Kyungsoo had given up on finding something suitable for the moment and had wandered over to stand next to Jongin instead of the refrigerator. “And they are?”

Jongin started from the top and went clockwise: “Lightning for Jongdae, water for Junmyeon, fire for Chanyeol, healing— I think— for Yixing, teleportation for me, force for you, wind for Sehun, light for Baekhyun, and frost for Minseok.”

Kyungsoo bent a little closer to the sheet, close enough that Jongin could feel their hair brushing. “What does ‘force’ mean?”

“Like in _Star Wars,_ it’s control over the balance between things.”

“What could I do with it?” Kyungsoo turned towards Jongin then, and the younger felt his heart stop at the proximity.

“You could move objects and people, or make plants grow, or perhaps see things far away if you knew the right signature to search for.”

Kyungsoo looked directly into his eyes, and Jongin couldn’t look away. Kyungsoo opened his mouth to say something, and Jongin found for once that he didn’t want to back up.

“AYYE! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING IN MY KITCHEN?”

Kyungsoo was the one to jump backwards, separating the two and revealing a distinctly peeved Baekhyun.

“Like you and Chanyeol aren’t all over each other _everywhere!”_ Jongin retorted, and it was enough to make Baekhyun stalk past them with a huff.

“Ugh, what happened to the fridge? There’s nothing in here.”

“That was probably Sehun at finals time,” Yixing informed Baekhyun, and Kyungsoo couldn’t help but be relieved that he’d jumped back when he did because if not he would never hear the end of it from Yixing. Baekhyun was bad enough, but Yixing was even worse.

Minseok, Junmyeon, and Jongdae plodded in. They’d stayed longer than usual at the gym because the typical pair had had to teach Junmyeon how to use some of the equipment, but all three were pleased because Junmyeon did much better than expected.

 

20:40

“Oh my god, this is horrible! Why are we watching this? Whose idea was this? _Whose?”_ Chanyeol and Baekhyun had their faces buried in the blanket they were sharing. “I hate elimination shows.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay! They’ll probably be back, Yeollie.”

“Junmyeon hyung, it’s time for your version of ‘Baby Don’t Cry’!”

Jongin laughed, and Kyungsoo found himself laughing as well.

 

22:25

The show had long since been turned off, but no one had moved. They’d all fallen asleep as soon as Junmyeon had pressed _off_ on the remote, some even before then (Sehun).

They were therefore all startled awake when Junmyeon’s phone started ringing. _“Junmyeon hyung,”_ they groaned as a unit, and Jongdae hid his head under a blanket to avoid the noise.

“You can’t hide, Jongdae-yah,” Minseok teased, searching for the top of Jongdae’s head under the blanket.

“Are you going to pick up?” Yixing asked, voice drowsy with sleep.

“I have to, it’s the company,” Junmyeon sighed, and he did as he said he would. “Hello? Yes, this is Kim Junmyeon.”

“What is it?” Jongdae whispered to Minseok, who had been listening to the conversation with a sensitive ear.

"Something about our debut album,” Minseok whispered back, smiling a little in victory when his palm came into contact with Jongdae’s hair under the fleece blanket. “You know, you do act an awful lot like a cat sometimes.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“I’ve never gotten along with cats.”

Jongdae kicked their blanket off and it hit the floor in a pile of cream. Minseok wanted to cringe at the sight, but Jongdae was there curling into him and gazing up at him with the cutest eyes he could muster. “But you like me, right?”

“Of course I like you, Dae!” Minseok laughed as Jongdae pouted, and Junmyeon gave them a fondly exasperated glance.

“Sometimes I think my eyeballs will rot out just from watching our hyungs,” Sehun groaned, and Jongin couldn’t help but agree.


	11. DECEMBER 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “That’s evil!” Jongdae shrieked. Minseok simply smiled at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second update for today, please read December 10 first!

DECEMBER 11 — 09:33

It was everyone’s morning off, so most luxuriated in bed. The maknae line was flat out, and even Kyungsoo and Junmyeon were not doing much. The first thing on their schedules, now that all were done with exams, was to spend some time and go to rehearsal with NCT, followed by practice of their own and recording.

“Nini?” Kyungsoo woke Jongin to be his first choice of shopping buddy. “Will you go to the store with me? We have to get food or no one eats because we have nothing—  _nothing—_  here.”

Jongin dragged himself out of bed and into clean clothes and prepared to brave the walk to the store with Kyungsoo.

The other reason most luxuriated in bed was because it was cold. _Seriously cold._ Jongin almost forgot his coat, but Kyungsoo was quick to grab ahold of his sleeve and drag him back inside. It was an excuse to bundle Jongin in too many layers, and Kyungsoo wasn’t going to pass it up.

Jongin wanted to roll his eyes as Kyungsoo shoved more than one coat and even a few sweaters onto him, but had learned enough to know to try not to irritate him when he was in a mood.

“It’s cloudy,” Kyungsoo pouted as they stepped outside and came face-to-face with the _lovely,_ icy, biting breeze.

“We’re going to turn into human popsicles and _that’s_ what you’re worried about?” Jongin couldn’t help but laugh. Kyungsoo sighed but had to admit that he could be amusing without trying to be so.

“I don’t like clouds, or rain. Snow’s some kind of alright, but I miss the blue skies.”

“Well, it’s lucky that you have me then! I’ll be your blue sky.”

Kyungsoo chuckled it off, but deep down he knew Jongin was exactly on.

Jongin knew it too, if the way he watched Kyungsoo from the corner of his eye as they walked and braved the fans along the way was any indication.

 

11:50

The first thing to occur upon arriving at the NCT residence was the “Dream” line tackling Minseok to the floor. Junmyeon stared at the place where Minseok had been standing and now lay covered in his teenage friends in a mix of dread and amusement.

“We missed youuuu,” one of the Dreamies shrieked, and legs flailed in the middle of the pile.

“It’s been under a week since we last saw each other,” Minseok reminded him, although it was somewhat muffled by all the bodies on top of him.

Sehun stepped into the entry next and stared at Junmyeon, the pile on top of Minseok, and Taeyong’s guilty face, and gained little explanation. “Can someone please tell me why Minseok hyung was just football-tackled to the ground? Or am I seeing things?” A look of horror climbed onto Sehun’s face. “Oh my god, I’m finally going crazy.”

One of the members of the Minseok pile burst out laughing, and Jongdae guessed that it must have been Mark. “We love our new gear, hyung,” someone else exclaimed, and Chanyeol was beyond confused. “It’s so shiny and sleek and feels so nice on— it fits for once!”

“What are those kids _talking_ about?” He whispered to Baekhyun, who stared at him for a moment with a different expression of confusion on than Chanyeol’s own. Then Baekhyun burst out laughing so hard he actually dropped to the floor, attracting everyone’s attention.

“Park Chanyeol, you are terrible! The teens just got their outfits for the twenty-fourth in.”

Chanyeol stood in silence as it sunk in, but once he understood he soon joined Baekhyun on the floor. Yixing hit both with a magazine similar to the one Minseok had chosen as a weapon on their previous visit.

Jongin and Kyungsoo had started to talk with Sicheng and Yuta, and found that they got along rather well. “If you don’t mind my asking, how did you get involved with NCT?”

Sicheng shook his head. “I don’t mind at all. I had just started my freshman year of university when I met Yuta hyung here at orientation. He was one of the guides, and it turned out that he was friends with Taeyong hyung, who was friends with Chenle-yah, whom I knew from dance.”

“I met Taeyong at a nightclub, actually— we went to see the same artist perform.” Yuta smiled at Kyungsoo and Jongin, and Jongin wondered if that was what had first captured Taeyong’s attention. “Did you two meet through Jongdae?”

“Yes, Jongdae’s friend Chanyeol recruited me as one of the group’s dancers. Kyungsoo hyung was the last addition— he sang one of EX-M’s old songs, actually, and sang Jongdae’s part.”

“Oh, really?” Yuta and Sicheng both wore looks of awe when they turned their attention towards Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo tried to keep himself from shrinking under their weight.

“He did a great job! I’m very happy to be able to work with him— hyung’s voice is truly something special.” Jongin watched Kyungsoo from the corner of his eye again, and smiled when Kyungsoo restrained himself from fidgeting with the edge of his sleeve.

“Ah yes, we heard ‘Electric Kiss’! Both of you did so well with it, we can’t really believe we’ll be working with you at your first true concert.”

“Before that, Sicheng-ah, we have to do that winter showcase. So let’s get to practice, huh?”

Kyungsoo and Jongin decidedly liked the pair.

 

20:00

“And that’s a wrap for tonight! Good job everyone, I believe we have all the parts we need for this upcoming release.” Chanyeol, Baekhyun, and Jongdae cheered in unison, and even Kyungsoo broke into a relieved smile.

“I can’t believe we finished so early! Maybe we can go and actually have dinner at a decent time! And sleep? Sleep sounds so good!” Minseok and Junmyeon watched as Sehun and Jongin “chased” each other around the recording studio in celebration.

Jongdae wandered over to where his roommates were standing. “You have the night off, right? The exams aren’t taken for a few more days?”

“Right,” Junmyeon reassured him, trying to keep his tone positive so he could have a similar outlook on the event.

“Then if someone in our room is up past eleven, they’re buying Kyungsoo all the groceries he wants for the next week.”

“That’s evil!” Jongdae shrieked. Minseok simply smiled at him.


	12. DECEMBER 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “There’s no need to rub it in,” Minseok huffed, turning back around to give Junmyeon supportive words when his strength began to lag.

DECEMBER 12 —

Jongin, much like Jongdae, curled into a little ball when left alone so he would stay warm. Unlike Jongdae, Jongin had no roommates who stole his bed and kept him warm enough that he didn’t have curl into himself, so when Kyungsoo woke each morning he was greeted by the sight of a tiny Jongin ball.

Not having roommates who stole his bed _did_ mean that Jongin didn’t have to wake up at 04:45 every morning due to their alarm, however, which was a distinct blessing.

 

04:44

Junmyeon was awake before their alarm went off, finger ready to hit the silencing button. Baekhyun had been complaining again about its sound disturbing his beauty sleep and had threatened to break Jongdae’s phone if it kept waking him. Jongdae and Minseok had been undisturbed by the comment; Junmyeon, however, made it his goal to always beat the alarm to spare Jongdae his phone. Even if it _could_ be fixed by buying a new one, Junmyeon knew that Jongdae was more than slightly attached to this older one.

If the cracks splintering the screen were any indication, Jongdae a) took it everywhere and b) didn’t take the same care of it Minseok did to his. Then again, Minseok was Minseok and Junmyeon hadn’t seen him drop his phone once.

He was getting better at weights work, if Junmyeon could say so himself. He didn’t have Jongdae’s patience with the crew machine so he wouldn’t gain Jongdae’s excellent arms, but he would not say that he was lagging too far behind.

Minseok and Jongdae were both very supportive of him and his work, and Minseok would offer to spot for Junmyeon while Jongdae worked on machines across the room. “Hey, Dae-yah! Pretty soon, Junmyeon-ah will be able to out-lift me.”

“You don’t have to rub it in!” Jongdae screamed back across the room, and even though Junmyeon’s gaze held steady on the bar he was pressing he knew Jongdae was pouting.

“Don’t pout, Jongdae-yah— it isn’t a good look on you.”

“Excuse me, everything’s a good look on me!”

Minseok whipped his head around to glare at Jongdae. “Excuse you, shouldn’t you be being more polite?”

“Sorry hyung, but _everyone_ knows neither of you can resist me when I’m pouting.”

“There’s no need to rub it in,” Minseok huffed, turning back around to give Junmyeon supportive words when his strength began to lag.

 

10:11

Jongin came to a stop at the end of his stage, hands on his knees as he picked himself back up.

“That was a little better, Jongin-ah,” Yixing said, and Jongin shook his head.

“It was, but it still isn’t good enough. Do you think I could add a jump in the second time?”

Yixing stared into the mirrored walls of the dance studio as he thought about the part Jongin was referring to. “That would make it harder, Jongin,” he replied after a while, and Jongin could tell from the tone that Yixing was strongly against it, even if his voice remained soft. “Are you sure you can do it?”

And Jongin knew what he was referring to, knew it well. _I know you can do it, but can you do it without pushing yourself too far?_

Jongin panted, swept his bangs back, and tried again.

 

12:17

When Jongin came into the kitchen for the group lunch, Junmyeon saw him and promptly _lost it._

When Jongin thought on the matter later, he supposed it likely had to do with how he hobbled in with his ankle bound to an ice pack.

Yixing wasn’t there, so it fell to Minseok to calm their leader down. “Hey, hey, I’m sure Jongin has heard about it plenty from Yixing already, and the damage is done. Lecturing him won’t make it any better.”

Sehun was there to pull Jongin’s chair back for him, for which Jongin thanked him gratefully. “Are you alright?” Sehun asked under his breath, and Jongin sighed.

“I should be alright,” he said, and watched as Sehun’s brow quirked. “Nothing’s broken or torn, it looks like.”

Sehun audibly exhaled and headed off in the direction of the kitchen. Jongin wondered what he was searching for.

The answer became clear when Kyungsoo had Sehun help serve everyone before he took the seat next to Jongin. Although Kyungsoo did not mention his ankle, Jongin knew he had noticed it based on the darkening of the elder’s expression.

Yixing spent the meal sending pointed looks in the dancer’s direction.

Afterwards, when Jongin moved to stand to take his plate to the sink and be thankful he was not on cleaning duty, Kyungsoo was beyond fast to get him fully back and seated in his seat. “I’ll take care of that, Jongin-ah,” he said. “You stay there for now, and then I’ll help you back to the room.”

True to his word, Kyungsoo was there for him as soon as the plates had all been moved. “I’m going to pull you back now,” Kyungsoo told Jongin before he moved his chair. Jongin was thankful for the notice, as it allowed him to lift his leg so his ankle would not drag when he was moved. “Alright, we’ve got to get you up the stairs somehow.” Kyungsoo came to stand before Jongin and crouched slightly so they were at eyelevel. “I have an idea for that…. do you trust me, Nini?”

Jongin stared back at Kyungsoo, with his eyes widened slightly with nerves and his hair tangled from where he’d been fiddling with it but still the same Kyungsoo he’d gotten used to, and wondered why that was even a question.

“Of course I do, hyung,” Jongin said, and Kyungsoo gave him a small, nervous smile.

“Thank you, Jongin-ah. May I pick you up?”

_Pick him up? But he was…. half Jongin’s height! There was no way Kyungsoo would be able to do it._

However, Jongin didn’t say any of that. For some reason beyond explanation, he found himself _agreeing._

And relegating himself to certain death or a shattered leg, but Kyungsoo didn’t need to know that.

The group watched in awe as Kyungsoo lifted his roommate off the chair, securing him in bridal style so he could be careful with Jongin’s ankle. Yixing, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol stood in stunned silence. Sehun paused mid-bite to watch their procession. Junmyeon and Minseok were more amused than surprised, while Jongdae leaned against the doorframe and watched them go by with a wide smile. “Get it, Kyungsoo-yah!” He shouted after them, and Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. Jongin tried to hide but found very little room to do so.

 

17:29

“Are you sure you don’t need anything else?” Kyungsoo was on the foot of Jongin’s bed, the dancer’s bad ankle cradled between his palms.

“You’ll be gone an hour at most, something terrible _could_ happen in that amount of time. But I sincerely doubt it,” Jongin replied, but Kyungsoo cleared his throat in protest. “I know, I know, I was gone for an hour and injured myself in the first place, but hyung, if you don’t go feed them then they’ll starve without you.” Jongin shuddered suddenly, as if remembering something terrible. “Or order some horrid takeout.”

Kyungsoo shook his head and grabbed a pillow to prop Jongin’s ankle on. “Alright, you have a good point there.” He stood and made as if to leave, but turned back when he was halfway to the door. “Don’t get up to anything stupid while I’m gone, Jongin,” Kyungsoo warned, and Jongin sent him his most placid smile in return.

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t _dream_ of it.”

“Stay!”

              

18:29

Kyungsoo was quiet when he re-entered, and sure enough Jongin was napping. “Hey, Nini,” he said, and Jongin began to stir. “I brought you some dinner.”

Jongin propped himself up on one elbow and rubbed at his eyes with the other. “Thank you, Kyungsoo hyung,” he said, knowing he’d feel much better after some food; his ankle was beginning to ache horribly again.

When Jongin moved to sit up fully, Kyungsoo met him with a palm pressed firmly against his chest. “Ah, Nini, don’t move. I’ll bring it to you.”

Jongin gave Kyungsoo and the meal he had brought a slightly disbelieving look. “You’re going to feed me.”

“I can’t trust you not to move otherwise.” Kyungsoo busied himself with preparing the food for Jongin, hoping beyond hope that the other wouldn’t consider any other meaning beyond that simple one.

Jongin adjusted his pillows so he was slightly more vertical. “I might bite you if you get too close,” he warned, half hoping that Kyungsoo would ask why.

Kyungsoo did not ask why, but he did reply, “I’ll keep that in mind.”


	13. DECEMBER 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was a terrifying revelation, and Jongin was almost off the bed and bolting towards the door when Kyungsoo noticed his movement and swooped in to keep him still.

DECEMBER 13 — 01:23

Jongdae woke with a gasp. He hadn’t been woken by a nightmare— no, he’d been woken by the overwhelming feeling that something was off in the waking world.

Beside him, Minseok and Junmyeon stirred. “Dae Dae?” Minseok questioned as Jongdae exhaled until he could properly breathe again.

“I’m okay, hyungs,” Jongdae muttered, and Minseok dropped his head back down onto his pillow.

“Try to get some more sleep if you can, Jongdae-yah, it’s still very early.”

Jongdae sighed and lay back down, waiting for the steady heartbeats of his roommates to lull him back to sleep.

 

Further down the hall, Jongin also woke with a gasp. He and Kyungsoo sat up at the same time, but Kyungsoo was the one to cross the distance in between their beds. “Are you alright? Is your ankle hurting?”

Jongin had a moment of shock in which the fact that the very first thing Kyungsoo thought of upon waking was _him_ settled in, but it was quickly overrun by the anxiety which had woken him in the first place.

“I…. I’m alright, it isn’t my ankle. Sorry for waking you, hyung.”

Kyungsoo nudged Jongin’s arm. “Don’t apologize to me, I just had to make sure you were alright.” Kyungsoo rocked back on his heels, and Jongin glanced away.

“I dreamed of a friend,” Jongin admitted, and Kyungsoo listened faithfully. “I didn’t dream of him specifically, but just his presence and a feeling, you know?”

“I do,” Kyungsoo replied, and for a second in the pitch black of their room Jongin found the lyrics from his stage coming to the surface of his mind.

Kyungsoo was the first to look away that time, but he stayed next to Jongin until the other was fast asleep once more.

 

11:47

In order to perform at the winter showcase, they were required to meet with the Director of the Arts before the day of the event. It wouldn’t be hard to meet his requirements, but the group did work to make a good first impression.

Jongdae and Chanyeol had worked with Yuta on preparing the group for the Japanese cover they’d do, and all nine had worked to become comfortable with it. The dance line designed their own choreo for the group, and took rather large pains to make sure it wasn’t similar to the original.

“Hey,” Minseok greeted Jongdae after the meeting. “I just checked the weather on the nineteenth.”

“And?”

“It’s going to snow.”

Jongdae and Minseok grinned at each other, the knowledge of a shared moment between the two enough to lighten their moods.

“Can we get coffee?” Minseok asked, and Jongdae nodded vigorously in support of the idea.

“As you wish, my resident caffeine addicts,” Junmyeon laughed, and laughed harder when Minseok and Jongdae turned their best glares towards him. “Calm down, calm down! I was joking…. mostly.”

Poor Sehun was once again the one to witness the trio causing chaos as Junmyeon speed-walked to the exit of the building, Minseok and Jongdae trailing behind him at dead sprints. Various students stared at them as they went by, and when they turned to Sehun for explanations the freshman could only shrug.

 

12:31

Jongin hadn’t said anything, but he was certain Kyungsoo knew he was bored. He’d been forbidden from going with the group to the meeting, so he was stuck at home with Kyungsoo, who had volunteered to watch over him so he didn’t accidentally injured himself worse while going down the stairs or hobbling into the bathroom so he could take a shower. Of course, Kyungsoo didn’t stay, but he was there to provide support to and from the destinations.

Kyungsoo made for rather pleasant company, Jongin decided. He truly shouldn’t have been surprised, because Kyungsoo _had_ helped him rescue his grades and had spent time with him in the library and had been a great roommate. But it was then that Jongin realized how much better everything became when Kyungsoo was involved in it, even when it was just a conversation on Kyungsoo’s favorite recipes.

Jongin wouldn’t consider himself to be a horrid cook, but many of the dishes Kyungsoo mentioned he could barely even consider attempting. In a distinct opposite, however, Kyungsoo’s eyes lit up and— dare Jongin even say it— _sparkled like an anime character_ as he described how he’d make each one for Jongin _._

It was also then, when Kyungsoo was telling him about some French chocolate dessert he tried once and had to make for him, that Jongin realized that perhaps he wanted to spend the rest of his time in Kyungsoo’s company.

It was a terrifying revelation, and Jongin was almost off the bed and bolting towards the door when Kyungsoo noticed his movement and swooped in to keep him still. “What did I tell you yesterday?” Kyungsoo questioned as he helped Jongin back into a horizontal position.

Jongin thought and thought as Kyungsoo watched him like a hawk, but he couldn’t come up with the answer. “I’m sorry, hyung, but I don’t remember.”

Something harsh flashed across Kyungsoo’s eyes, but it vanished in the blink of an eye. Jongin saw it, however, and felt himself shrinking further into his pillows. “I said, _‘stay,’_ and I would appreciate it if you listened to me.” The way Kyungsoo phrased it, made Jongin’s healing reflect upon him instead of just Jongin’s ankle, made Jongin want nothing more than to execute it properly.

He’d show Kyungsoo that he could be still.

           

21:08

Baekhyun faceplanted on his bed as soon as he and Chanyeol returned from the kitchen. “Do you have more work to do?” Baekhyun asked, knowing without looking up what Chanyeol’s answer would be.

“Sadly, yes,” Chanyeol told him, and Baekhyun groaned into the blanket on top of his bed. He allowed himself one more minute of not-quite-misery before he picked himself up and sprawled next to Chanyeol on Chanyeol’s bed.

Chanyeol looked away from his laptop and saw Baekhyun staring up at him. Without having to ask, he knew what Baekhyun wanted; Chanyeol decided it wouldn’t be to disruptive, so he dropped one hand from his keyboard and continued to edit with the other. The free hand went into Baekhyun’s hair, where it combed through the strands in time to the slower rhythm of the track. Baekhyun sighed, and after some time Chanyeol leaned down to check on him and found that the other had fallen asleep.

With any luck, Chanyeol wouldn’t be too far behind.


	14. DECEMBER 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I have my ways,” Sehun said, much too cryptically for Jongin’s taste. “Trust me, you don’t want to know them.”

DECEMBER 14 — 08:03

“Will you teach us to cook?” The question came from a rather ruffled Baekhyun, still in his softest pair of sweatpants and with his hair unbrushed. Kyungsoo turned to gawk at him, unsure if his ears were failing him.

“Who exactly is ‘us?’” Kyungsoo asked, although he already knew. He simply didn’t want to accept the knowledge.

“Baekhyun and I,” Chanyeol said, as if Baekhyun’s statement needed any sort of clarification. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes so hard Jongin worried they might get permanently stuck in the back of his head.

 _That would be rather unfortunate,_ Jongin concluded, given how much he loved those eyes.

 _Loved those eyes,_ Jongin’s mind kept reminding him, no matter how much he tried to silence or simply quiet it. Unfortunately, it was just about as loud as Baekhyun himself was when he wanted something.

But Kyungsoo was having some trouble turning the pair down. Baekhyun and Chanyeol had turned their best puppy eyes on him, and although he was usually immune to such tactics Jongin was in the room and he didn’t want to turn them down in front of Jongin.

“Jongin!” Sehun stood by the door, pulling his shoes on. “Let’s go get our dogs!”

“Make sure not to bother your ankle!” Kyungsoo shouted. As Jongin left, he snapped his eyes back to the two troublemakers before him. They watched his actions with amusement that didn’t fade even when Kyungsoo shook his finger at them. “You know what? Fine. Please tell me at least one of you can make rice in a rice cooker, because that’s what you’ll be doing. And make sure to wash it, I’ll be able to tell if you don’t.”

With a shrug, Baekhyun measured and poured some of the rice from the pantry into the rice cooker bowl held by Chanyeol. As Chanyeol nudged the faucet on, Kyungsoo couldn’t help but wonder if he had made a terrible mistake.

 

09:27

Jongin did not know what to do. Ever since his moment the day before, he’d been torn in two. He considered both his options, but found himself at a mental stalemate:

Option One was for him to cut his losses and back off, keep his distance from Kyungsoo and hope that their friendship would not suffer. Jongin was skeptical of that option working, however, because Kyungsoo would definitely pick up on the change and it was likely that the friendship between them would sour.

Option Two was for him to continue or step up his advances and hope Kyungsoo would either not pin them on anything solid or reciprocate them. This one was risky, even more so because Jongin struggled to get a read on Kyungsoo. If Jongin went this route, he risked more than losing a friendship— he risked losing his group.

And at some point during all the chaos of the past few weeks, they had become his adoptive family.

Jongin didn’t know what he’d do without Jongdae’s screaming, Chanyeol’s instant happiness, or Baekhyun’s smiles in the morning. He didn’t know what he’d do without Junmyeon’s steady leadership, Minseok’s quiet friendship, Yixing’s talented instruction, or Sehun’s loyal companionship. But most of all, Jongin didn’t know what he’d do without Kyungsoo bringing a sense of security, a sense of calm to cling to amidst the wild waves of the open ocean, to his life.

“Yo, are you alright?” Sehun watched Jongin with something identifiable as concern. He was sitting on the floor next to Vivi and Jjangah, while Monggu and Jjangu were curled up against Jongin.

“Sorry, I just got a little distracted,” Jongin replied, and it was pretty close to the truth. He played with the fur on Monggu’s ear and hoped Sehun wouldn’t push the issue.

“You look like you could use some advice,” Sehun said, and Jongin stared at him blankly. “Oh, come on, don’t give me that face!”

Monggu lifted his head as if to say the same to Jongin, and his owner shook his head in disbelief. “Alright, you nosy creature, I’ll tell you. But you must promise me to keep it quiet in order for me to tell you.” Sehun was quick to agree, so Jongin continued. “I think I’m in love with Kyungsoo. Or, at the very least, am quite interested.”

Silence.

“Wait, _what?”_ Sehun honestly looked so flabbergasted that Jongin wasn’t sure what to do. But then Sehun spoke again with something Jongin thought he’d never say: “But aren’t you two already together? Or is it not that kind of relationship?”

“We’ve…. we aren’t together. At all. We’re just friends who share a room right now, Sehun.”

Sehun arched a brow, and all the dogs turned looks of disbelief towards Jongin as well. “Friends who kiss friends on the neck during music video filming? I don’t think that was on the script.”

Jongin was beet red. “How…. how do you know about that?”

“I have my ways,” Sehun said, much too cryptically for Jongin’s taste. “Trust me, you don’t want to know them.”

“I’m sure I don’t,” Jongin shuddered, and his dogs all flopped down again. Jjangu had a nice stretch and nudged Jongin’s thigh with his front paws in the process.

“Anyways, should we take these guys to their new home?”

 

10:54

“Oh my god, they’re so cute!” Chanyeol and Baekhyun were on the floor as soon as Jongin and Sehun returned with the dogs in tow, having long since been released by Kyungsoo to wreak havoc elsewhere.

“Thank you! Say thank you, Monggu!” Jongin urged, and, sure enough, the poodle gave the back of Baekhyun’s hand a nudge in thanks, reducing the singer to squeals.

“Are the dogs here?” Kyungsoo asked as he stepped into the entry, although it was hardly a question. Vivi and Jjangah had raced through his kitchen in tiny balls of fluff before their owners were through the door, drawn to the smell of the food. “There’s some breakfast left for you in there, if you want it,” Kyungsoo told Sehun and Jongin, although it was mostly directed towards the latter. Sehun didn’t let it get to him and instead made note of the occurrence; it would have to be reported to Chanbaek and be recorded in their binder entitled “U.S.S. Things.” (The U.S.S. was to throw anyone searching through their stuff off, because who would look in a binder called by such? The answer: Minseok, although none of them knew that he had seen its contents and had a hearty laugh at the “Xiusoochen” part— what even was with that name?)

 

23:56

As soon as the group got home from a grueling practice, they were greeted by the four dogs right at the door. “Aw, hello,” Kyungsoo cooed at one of the toy poodles, making everyone’s eyes pop out of their skulls. “Did you abandon Jongin to greet us? What if you made him get lonely?” The tiny dog simply danced around, happily greeting everyone before racing back up the stairs.

“Wow,” Sehun commented, “I wish Vivi would greet me like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to let you all know that I may not be able to get all of the chapters up in time and written to the quality standard I value, so they may be a little later than Christmas. Thank you all for reading, and I hope you continue to support this. ♥
> 
> Have a gif of Jongin and one of his pups as a thank you:  
> 


	15. DECEMBER 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are reindeer antlers, a bubble tea date, and a burned kitchen.

DECEMBER 15 — 07:35

“Well, at least I didn’t have to help you down the stairs this time,” Kyungsoo stated, watching as Jongin gradually blushed more and more.

“Thank you for helping me,” Jongin replied, and Kyungsoo gave him an honest smile.

“Of course, Nini,” Kyungsoo said, and Jongin’s pain seemed to evaporate. “You can do some light movement today, can’t you?”

Jongin grinned— he couldn’t wait to be back in the practice rooms, even if he couldn’t do too much. “I’ll be watching you,” Kyungsoo warned as he took a sinister sip of Minseok’s coffee. “So you’d better not get hurt on my watch.”

“Don’t worry hyung, I won’t. I only get hurt on Yixing hyung’s watch.”

Kyungsoo snorted and almost inhaled the coffee— still from the mug he had snagged from Minseok— up his nose. Minseok smirked, considering it karma.

“There’s someone in the practice rooms,” Sehun reported as he entered, and heads across the room snapped up.

“What kind of someone?”

Sehun pulled up a chair, decidedly not pouting. “Not a kind of someone, NCT kinds of someones,” he groaned, and Jongin gave him a supportive pat on the back.

“What are they doing there?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t ask! But I heard iKON blasting and they seemed to be doing some sort of a routine so I didn’t want to bother them.”

Yixing smiled at that, having somehow awoken from his previous mostly-asleep state enough to process and even engage in the conversation. “Aw, did Sehunnie get embarrassed?”

Jongin laughed outright at that, watching as his friend’s pout turned into color climbing his cheeks.

Minseok, leaning against the counter next to Jongdae, turned his head to whisper to him. “Do you want me to try on that order you got in a while ago?”

Jongdae stared at him in stunned silence.

“Come on, you know the one. Antlers?”

Next to the pair, Baekhyun started cackling. Jongdae cursed his friend’s expert eavesdropping skills and considered turning Minseok down, already able to imagine how cute he’d look with the holiday decorations on.

“Thank you, hyung, that’d be very helpful,” Jongdae said instead, the need to know if the order was correct (and definitely not the cuteness) winning out.

It wasn’t made any easier for him when Minseok stood right away and dragged him upstairs with a mostly-believable excuse ready for those who questioned their exit. Junmyeon watched them go but said nothing.

If Jongdae didn’t know any better, he’d say that the pair had planned it.

 

It took Jongdae only a few minutes to get the box dragged out from under his bed (to which Minseok raised a well-deserved eyebrow) and the tape holding it together sliced through. Once that was finished, Jongdae broke open the top and grinned down at its contents.

Minseok was mildly nervous about what it could contain until he remembered the message he had read and almost laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of everything.

“And here we are!” Jongdae pulled a headband from the interior of the package— a headband crowned in silver glitter reindeer antlers. “Ah, silver isn’t your color. One second, hyung.”

After a few more moments of searching, Jongdae unearthed what he was looking for. He held a pale rose pair in his hands, so close to white their color changed depending on the lighting. “Do you mind trying these ones?”

Minseok took them from Jongdae, ignoring how his heart sparkled just like the antlers as the headband passed between them with a brush of their fingers. The headband was remarkably light across his palm, and Minseok swept his hair back and slid it on.

Sure enough, they were a perfect fit both size and color wise. Minseok couldn’t help but feel slightly silly with them on, but Jongdae looked ecstatic. “They fit perfectly! Thank you, hyung.” Minseok removed the antlers and placed them safely on his nightstand.

Jongdae was just about to close the box when Minseok’s hand caught his wrist. “Hey, wait! You have to try a pair as well, Dae Dae.”

It wasn’t even a staring contest; Jongdae was searching for the silver pair of antlers he had left almost as soon as Minseok got his sentences out. “Okay, looks like they’ll all fit,” Minseok concluded once Jongdae had them on, “But they won’t be as cute as you in them, of course!”

Junmyeon heard Jongdae’s rather unmanly squeal from all the way in the kitchen.

 

15:24

Jongin watched in awe as Kyungsoo was complimented on his vocals by their instructor. Of course, it was not surprise as to Kyungsoo’s skills which made him watch the singer in such a fashion; it was the pure power of his voice, the way it roped all listeners in and said _look, stay and listen for a while._

It was different than Jongdae’s in how it wasn’t flashy or as loud, yet it was richer, like the finest silk Jongin could imagine.

If when he got back to the house the first thing he did was kneel and give Monggu a huge hug and proceed to tell him all about vocal lessons with Kyungsoo, the poodle made sure no one else was any the wiser.

 

16:01

“Will you get tea with me, hyung?” Kyungsoo looked around for Jongin, sure it was his roommate whom Sehun had directed the question at. When he found there was no one else near Sehun, he realized the younger had been asking _him._

"Bubble tea?” He asked, and Sehun gave him his most pleading look. “That’s violating your diet, you know,” he reminded, and the younger made sure to turn away before rolling his eyes. He didn’t want to face Kyungsoo’s wrath quite yet, not until he had a nice cup of tea and tapioca before him.

“Please, Kyungsoo hyung? We’ve all worked hard this week, and you the most of all.”

Kyungsoo sighed but agreed, happy he had once Sehun’s smile lit up brighter than he’d seen before.

 

16:33

Kyungsoo should have known Sehun was up to something, but much to his despair he didn’t begin suspecting the maknae of anything until they’d already picked up the tea and found a spot in a quiet corner of the shop. “So, I’m sure you know about Jongin,” Sehun said as soon as they were both seated.

“What about him?” Kyungsoo asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

“About how he’s been feeling lately,” Sehun clarified, and Kyungsoo was hit with a sudden lightning bolt of dread.

“Has he been struggling recently?”

Sehun nearly choked in shock on the tapioca he was sucking up through his straw. “Struggling, yes, but not in the way you think.”

Kyungsoo stared at his own drink and hoped its milky depths would reveal the meaning of Jongin’s problem and Sehun’s words.

“You really don’t know, hyung.” Sehun stated, staring at Kyungsoo even harder than Kyungsoo was staring at his drink. It wasn’t even a question.

“I am unsure of what you mean, Sehun-ah.”

Sehun didn’t blink or look away as Kyungsoo met his gaze. It wasn’t competitive, at least not between the two of them, but Kyungsoo was certain there was some sort of grand prize at stake. A grand prize, or a grand reward.

“Don’t break his heart, hyung, but if you must then do it soon and do it quick so there is a chance for it to be reconstructed in gold.”

 

20:10

To say that Kyungsoo was troubled would be an understatement. He spent the time after meeting with Sehun wandering the streets around his college campus, managing to dodge odd stares and odd fans alike.

He was barely back in time for dinner, which he still had to prepare.

Except that when he approached the two-story house, he was greeted by the sight of the front door and all available windows open, cuing the appearance of a new sort of dread inside Kyungsoo.

Sure enough, as soon as he was close enough to the building he could hear the lovely duet of Junmyeon’s shouting and multiple fire alarms still wailing away in their earsplitting shrieks.

 _Not unlike Jongdae when he wants something,_ Kyungsoo thought, and snorted at himself.

Thankfully, nothing terribly important seemed to have gone up in flames, but Jongin’s and Sehun’s dogs were nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t until he checked the entertainment room that he found them curled up on the couch between their two owners; the sight lifted his spirits some and made him less likely to go ballistic at Chanyeol and Baekhyun as soon as Junmyeon was done with them.

But more accurately, his spirits were lifted and then dropped as Sehun gave him a knowing look, Jongin seated at his side remaining unknowing.

Kyungsoo shouted back into the kitchen (around which most members of the household had gathered) to have them order takeout before he vanished up the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a new side-ship, what do you think it will be?
> 
> Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it, and best wishes to all reading.


	16. DECEMBER 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monggu whined and licked Kyungsoo’s hand, and Jongin watched as the elder slowly unfurled and began to pet the poodle’s head.

DECEMBER 16 — 06:57

Jongdae hummed as the trio walked home from the gym. He and Chanyeol had stayed up late working on something new, and both were pleased with it but now dragging slightly due to the lack of sleep. Jongdae couldn’t wait until he was at home and could have some of Minseok’s coffee.

(Unlike Kyungsoo, he wouldn’t steal it from Minseok’s cup, however. Not unless it was offered.)

“Something new?” Minseok asked, and Jongdae nodded and kept humming. “Do you have any lyrics for it yet?”

Jongdae looked up at the white sky before looking at Minseok and Junmyeon to his right. “You shine like the stars, you light up my heart,” he sang, and waited for their reactions.

“Wow,” Junmyeon said, “That was…. only two lines, but I feel like I just went through a journey through time and space.”

“That’s our idea,” Jongdae admitted, and Minseok gave a soft _ah_ in response. Minseok reached out with an arm and slung it over Jongdae’s shoulder, and it kept him within their universe on the rest of the walk home.

 

07:30

Kyungsoo woke to a heavy pressure on his chest. Upon opening his eyes, he found a face much too close to his own.

“Seriously?” He asked, and Monggu whined at him. “Where’s Jongin-ah?”

The poodle stood and jumped off him, and Kyungsoo decided to follow along.

Sure enough, Monggu led him to the front door. What Kyungsoo wasn’t expecting, however, was for Jongin to open it barely a split second later. “Oh, hello Kyungsoo hyung!”

Kyungsoo thought it was decidedly too early for that blinding a smile.

 

17:13

Baekhyun and Chanyeol were in the middle of a rather heated Mario Kart battle to keep their minds off the storm outside when, following a particularly brilliant move by Baekhyun, the television screen shut off. They had barely a moment to stare at each other in confusion before the surge breakers began wailing.

In the other room, Kyungsoo groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “Seriously, didn’t you _just_ set off the fire alarms?” He shouted to them, already in motion to see what he could do about the problem.

“It wasn’t us!” Kyungsoo glared at the pair, but could see that they were telling the truth.

“Alright, for once I believe you. But now we have to figure out how to get that shrieking to stop.” Junmyeon stepped into the room and caught Kyungsoo’s eye, and together they silently commiserated.

The power was still out when Jongdae, Jongin, and Minseok returned from practice and Yixing and Sehun from classes, but the screaming of the surge protectors had stopped. It had taken Kyungsoo going outside and searching for the power box to fix it, but even despite his annoyance everyone agreed the atmosphere was much better.

Except that the lack of power killed the hot water heater as well as all of the indoor heating, so the group was working to find the best ways to distribute the house’s warming materials.

“We don’t need extra blankets in our room,” Baekhyun told the others, “because Chanyeol’s my own personal heater.” Sehun pretended to gag, and Jongdae couldn’t help but want to mirror it.

“You know, that’s a good idea!” Junmyeon decided, and everyone— _everyone—_ turned to him in shock. “We only have five blankets, but if everyone pairs up then they’ll stay warmer.” Jongdae opened his mouth to argue, but Junmyeon wasn’t finished. “Or you can freeze on your own and have fun!”

“Would you be alright with that?” Kyungsoo asked Jongin, who gave him a smile he couldn’t classify well.

“I am if you are,” he replied, and Kyungsoo was equal parts deeply upset with and thankful for the weather.

“Fine, we’re in,” Sehun said, and Yixing stared at him in shock.

“And it’s settled!” If the others didn’t know any better, they would have said Junmyeon had this planned all along.

 

_Inside Room 1 — Baekhyun and Chanyeol_

19:31

Following the group’s takeout dinner, Baekhyun and Chanyeol were the first to leave. Yixing raised an eyebrow at that, but they didn’t seem to particularly care; living with Kyungsoo had made them immune to most other glares.

Baekhyun grabbed his pillows and dropped them on Chanyeol, who flailed under the fluffy assault and accidentally kicked his roommate in the process. This led to Baekhyun stealing Chanyeol’s pillows out from under him so he could hit him with them in retaliation, which quickly turned into a full-blown pillow battle.

Downstairs, everyone went silent as they tried to figure out what could be causing such high-pitched shrieks from Chanyeol. “I didn’t know his voice could get that high,” Jongin commented, eyes huge.

“None of us did,” Jongdae replied. His ears were still ringing.

 

20:17

“Alright, I yield! I yield! Mercy!” Baekhyun paused mid-swing, but Chanyeol didn’t take advantage of it.

“What brings on this sudden change?” He asked, still holding Chanyeol down to avoid sudden pillow attacks.

“As lovely as you are when you’re attacking me with my own pillows, I do need your commentary on a track I’ve been working on.” Baekhyun narrowed his eyes and stared at him for a minute, trying to see if he was bluffing, before he let his pillows go.

That was Baekhyun’s big mistake, because as soon as the pillows were dropped Chanyeol lifted his legs and flipped their positions, reaching for his poor pillows. “My turn,” he glared, and Baekhyun froze.

“And _that’s_ Baekhyun,” Jongdae sighed as the screams changed origin. “Baekhyun when he’s getting killed in a pillow fight.”

 

21:48

“This is good,” Baekhyun said, turning his head to stare at Chanyeol. “I thought you were joking about having something to show me.”

“Never!” Chanyeol gasped, and Baekhyun slapped him with the side of his pillow.

 

_Inside Room 2 — Jongdae, Junmyeon, and Minseok_

21:37

“I think they’re done,” Junmyeon determined upon hearing no more shrieks from upstairs. Indeed, Chanyeol had gotten his revenge and the two had come to a sort of truce based on mutual exhaustion.

“Then shall we?” Jongdae extended his hand to Junmyeon, who took it as Minseok took Jongdae’s other. Those left behind rolled their eyes, but knew nothing would become of it.

 

22:40

They were indeed correct— all that happened, just like all that had happened in the past, was Junmyeon and Minseok serving as rather large and breathing stuffed animals for Jongdae. As the thunder cracked outside, he couldn’t help but notice how Minseok came in a little closer, as if trying to protect him from the lightning strikes outside. _Rather amusing,_ Jongdae thought, _given how his “power” was supposed to be lightning._

Jongdae spared a single thought in which he gave thanks for how no one appeared to be like Zitao was about lightning before drifting off.

 

23:11

Not so was Jongdae’s luck. In a dramatic show of nature, the storm came overhead and lightning leapt from the clouds to the roof of the house. Jongdae was quite literally shocked awake, and as his eyes flew open he found himself occupied by two suddenly clingy roommates.

He didn’t complain and wrapped his arms around them instead.

 

_Inside Room 3 — Jongin and Kyungsoo_

21:42

Jongin and Kyungsoo were the next to leave. Neither spoke after they left Yixing and Sehun at the table, nor when they filed into their room one after the other. But when they stood before each other, the chill of the house sinking into them, they both decided they’d have to talk.

"Hyung,” Jongin said, and Kyungsoo nodded.

“Okay, Nini.” Jongin smiled at him, thankful he hadn’t had to finish his thought. “Jjangu! Jjangah! Monggu!” Kyungsoo called out the door, and it was immediately followed by the sound of paws scrambling on the wooden stairs.

Jongin had gathered Kyungsoo’s pillows, moved them to his bed, and pulled back the covers by the time Kyungsoo turned back around. The elder marveled at his speed and thought that teleportation would indeed be a good power for him.

“Ready?” Jongin asked, and Kyungsoo nodded again.

“Yes, thank you Jongin.” Jongin held the covers up so Kyungsoo could climb in, only dropping them once Kyungsoo was comfortable.

"Are you warm enough?” Kyungsoo asked as he pulled the blanket Jongdae had given them over their comforter.

“Yes, hyung.”

 

23:11

Kyungsoo woke and panicked, but not for the same reason he’d panicked the first time upon waking up next to Jongin. Across from him, Jongin’s eyes were wide, but not as wide as Kyungsoo’s.

Jongin watched as Kyungsoo curled into himself with a whimper, his worry about the storm disappearing underneath his worry for his roommate. “Kyungsoo hyung?” He asked, reaching out to put a hand on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Kyungsoo mumbled something in response and Monggu crept up the bed towards him, lying down next to him and cocking his head to the side.

 _Oh,_  Jongin thought, _of course. He’s afraid of thunder, and now Monggu thinks he’s crying._

Monggu whined and licked Kyungsoo’s hand, and Jongin watched as the elder slowly unfurled and began to pet the poodle’s head.

 

_Inside Room 4 — Sehun and Yixing_

21:43

The occupants of Room 4 spent the longest amount of time staring at each other in charged silence. It wasn’t until the next crack of thunder that it dispersed, sending both staring down at the floor.

“Well, whose bed is bigger?” Yixing asked, and Sehun shrugged.

“Yours, probably, because you’re older.”

It wasn’t true and they both knew it, but it worked for the time being.

Sehun carried the blanket up the stairs, trailing after Yixing who had grabbed the spare. If things got messy then Yixing could simply move to Sehun’s bed and sleep alone.

But for some reason, Yixing doubted that would happen.

 

23:10

Neither Yixing nor Sehun had been able to sleep. They weren’t sure what it was, but something had kept them awake.

Maybe it had always been there, trapped between them in all the moments they were together.

Sehun noticed the moment Yixing noticed it, and Yixing noticed the moment Sehun noticed it. It was the same moment static began to build, lifting their hair and filling everything with the echoing promise, promise, promise of _electricity._

And as they grounded each other, their world flashed in white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently Monggu really does do that. Isn't he adorable?
> 
> I'm not sure when the next update will be, but it'll be as soon as I can!


End file.
